{"id":1070,"date":"2011-02-21T08:30:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T07:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/?p=1070"},"modified":"2011-02-20T12:16:42","modified_gmt":"2011-02-20T11:16:42","slug":"sky%e2%80%99s-the-limit-for-flat-earthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/?p=1070","title":{"rendered":"Sky\u2019s the limit for flat earthers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Founded in 2004 the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education offers support and advice on leadership, governance and management to the UK higher education sector. \"\"<\/a>In a keynote <\/a>speech to its 2011 conference,\u00a0Martin Bean, vice-chancellor of The Open University since 1 October 2009, stressed the importance of internationalisation for UK and US universities. We face, as Martin Bean, put it, a \u2018flat world with no boundaries\u2019 but making successful links requires that \u2018senior people in your governance body\u2019 support expansion and that the choice of areas of activity and partners is determined\u00a0by the university’s values and culture.\"\"<\/p>\n

Martin Bean\u2019s advice may well be derived his own experience of international educational ventures. He was President of AIESEC <\/a>International, (Association Internationale des \u00c9tudiants en Sciences \u00c9conomiques et Commerciales) in 1986-7. This international, not-for-profit organisation run by students and recent graduates was described by Kofi Anan as<\/p>\n

an agent of positive change through education and cultural exchange to develop a broader understanding of cultural, socio-economic and business management issues.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition, Martin Bean may have built on an understanding of the history of the OU. International interest in the OU was intense from the start and there has been some valuable analysis of its place within the wider world. For example a report was prepared for the Commission on Post-Secondary Education in Ontario (Neil McLean, A study of the utilization of electronic technology in post-secondary education in Britain and West Germany. Prepared for the Commission on Post-Secondary Education in Ontario<\/em>\u00a0 Queen’s Printer, W. Kinmond, Toronto, 1972). This compared the OU to the Telekolleg and Funkkollege. There was also interest in its economic efficiency. A report on the OU for Canadian universities made in 1970 found that while the initial costs were high, the enhanced use of television by Canadian universities was recommended (see Bernard Trotter, Television and Technology in University Teaching. A Report to the Committee on University Affairs, and the Committee of Presidents of Universities of Ontario,<\/em> Information Branch of the Department of University Affairs, 481 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1970).<\/p>\n

The OU also engaged with other countries. It worked both independently and through the Concordat with the British Council.\u00a0A consultancy service was established\u00a0in 1974 and, then, because it was felt that there was a need for the OU to respond effectively and efficiency to requests for assistance, it ran the Centre for International Co-operation and Services 1977-79. The OUCICS developed contacts with external agencies, institutions and individuals concerned with distance education which has long experience of working with universities in many countries.\u00a0This department transmited information about the OU to other countries and leases consultants. Countries purchasing the English OU model included Columbia, India, Kenya, China and Tanzania. The OU\u00a0helped establish universities in Pakistan<\/a>, for Arabs<\/a> and it has worked closely with universities in the USA.<\/p>\n

The image is not of the LFHE but of Martin Bean’s avatar addressing a meeting\u00a0in Second Life. Expansion to new worlds, virtual\u00a0or otherwise,\u00a0is mostly likely to succeed when there is a\u00a0 clear understanding of the history and the culture of the OU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Founded in 2004 the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education offers support and advice on leadership, governance and management to the UK higher education sector. In a keynote speech to its 2011 conference,\u00a0Martin Bean, vice-chancellor of The Open University since 1 October 2009, stressed the importance of internationalisation for UK and US universities. We face, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[156],"class_list":["post-1070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","tag-martin-bean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1070"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1086,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1070\/revisions\/1086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/History-of-the-OU\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}