‘I loved the OU so much I came back 50 years later’

Posted on 4 July 2023 • Arts and social sciences, Student stories

Celia, 77 from Bristol returned to study with The Open University (OU) after nearly 50 years, as a way of keeping her mind active during retirement. No matter your age, Celia’s story shows that it’s never too late to learn.

Pioneer student

Celia was part of the first cohort of students to study with the OU shortly after it was launched in 1969.

“I started with the OU in the early 70s,” said Celia. “I’d left school without A Levels and began working as a librarian. I’d always regretted not going to university, but at the time there wasn’t another option.

“When the OU started it was revolutionary. I knew that it was an opportunity that I needed to grasp with both hands.

“I studied for an Open Degree and selected modules that focused on the arts, social science and education, as I had ambitions of moving into a role as an academic librarian.

“Throughout my degree, I worked full-time and mostly studied in the evenings and at weekends. It was a challenging few years, which took plenty of hard work and determination, but I was thrilled to graduate in 1977 with a first-class honours degree.

“As I had planned, my degree helped me to secure my dream job as an academic librarian; a role which I kept for the majority of my working life.”

It’s never too late

Although Celia was enjoying her retirement, she wanted to set herself some new goals to achieve and chose to return to the OU.

“In 2020, COVID hit and like many others, my life become quite insular. I wanted to keep my mind active and prove to myself that I still had it in me to study.

“My love of books still remained so I decided to try the Masters in English. Although the course delivery was very different to the way I’d studied my first degree, I found the online material easy enough to get to grips with and felt it even taught me some useful IT skills that have benefitted my everyday life.

“If ever I needed support, my tutors were there to help as well as my fellow students that I could communicate with via the forums.

“I was thrilled to be awarded a merit in my Masters and attended the Poole graduation ceremony with my husband in 2023.

“To anyone that is considering studying at a later age, I can’t recommend the OU enough. It’s an achievement I’m really proud of.”

The OU offers free courses on its OpenLearn site, if you’d like to dip your toe back into learning or to find out more about studying with the OU, visit https://www.open.ac.uk/