The Open University

Myth-busting assumptions about OU study

6 November 2018

Our Vice-Chancellor Mary Kellett has often shared her thoughts on how Open University students are described, saying: Let me share a small frustration I have over the words that are sometimes used to describe students like you. Conventional students are described as full-time students. And OU students like you are described as part-time students. Part-time? Part-time? More […]

Money and financial graph. Image credit: Thinkstock

Budget Commentary: Jam tomorrow for the poor

30 October 2018

Jonquil Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance, shares her views on the autumn budget. “The big ticket item from yesterday’s Budget – apart from extra spending on the NHS – is bringing forward by a year increases to the personal allowance (the first slice of income that most people can have tax-free) to £12,500 and […]

Val McDermid and Mark Beaumont honoured by the OU

26 October 2018

Honorary graduates author Val McDermid, endurance athlete Mark Beaumont, educationalist Dame Ruth Silver, and teacher and educational psychologist Graham Cameron today joined almost 500 Open University graduates in Glasgow to receive their awards. Hailing from all over Scotland and beyond, the graduates – many of whom have juggled work, family and other commitments alongside their […]

OpenLearn hits 60 million visitors

18 October 2018

That’s 60 million people who have benefitted from OpenLearn’s mission to make informal learning freely available and accessible to people around the world, regardless of their prior educational record, or financial situation. Launched in 2006, OpenLearn is the home of free learning from The Open University. The site currently averages 44,000 visitors a day, across […]

Campaigner and Activist Lucy Watts MBE receives honorary Masters

2 October 2018

ome Campaigner and activist Lucy Watts MBE has been awarded an honorary Masters from The Open University for her commitment to public services. Lucy Watts lives with a life-limiting condition and draws on her own experiences of disability to improve the lives of other people grappling with severe illness. She is determined not only to […]

New Research Study into Coupledom in Later Life

2 October 2018

As we celebrate the International Day of Older People on October 1st, researchers at The Open University are embarking on a study into one of the major worries for older couples- becoming separated if one of them has to go into a care home. The study, titled ‘Coupledom in later life: living together and apart’, […]

Thousands celebrate as degree ceremony season begins at The Open University

14 September 2018

5,000 graduates are set to pick up their Open University degrees at 21 ceremonies held by the University across the four nations this Autumn. Part of The Open University family For Professor Mary Kellett, Acting Vice-Chancellor, the degree ceremonies are always a highlight of the university year: “I’d like to say a huge congratulations to […]

Free OU course for teacher educators in Africa wins international award for digital innovation

12 September 2018

A free four-week online course designed by Open University education academics and presented on FutureLearn, has won a ‘Digital Innovation of the Year’ award at the prestigious PIEoneer Awards 2018. The MOOC (Massive, Online, Open Course), Making Teacher Education Relevant for 21st Century Africa, was selected as the winner by the judges in the Digital […]

Police in hi-visibility jackets policing crowd control at a UK event

Baseline Survey Report published: Implementing the Transformation of Police Learning and Development:

17 August 2018

The ‘Implementing the Transformation of Police Training, Learning and Development’ Project released their Baseline Survey Report this week. The project is led by the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), working in collaboration with The Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning. 32 police forces in England and Wales contributed to the […]

The remarkable story of Auschwitz survivor and OU graduate Evelyn Lipmann

8 August 2018

The lives of hundreds of thousands of people have been transformed by their study at The Open University, but few can have valued it more than Evelyn Lipmann. Evelyn, now 94, enrolled for a Humanities degree in the early 1970s to help put behind her the horror of the Nazi concentration camps. Decades later, she […]

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