The Open University

Share your story in support of lifelong learning

20 June 2017

The Open University is calling on members of its community to demonstrate the value of flexible distance learning (lifelong learning) and the role it can play to help the country meet future economic challenges. Flexible learning enables people to reskill and upskill, whatever their background or personal circumstances, and this will continue to prove essential […]

Computer hacker silhouette of hooded man with binary data and network security terms. Thinkstock

Privacy perspectives: dos, don’ts, and to-dos

27 January 2017

Every time you sign up for a new website, share your latest run with your friends, or scan your loyalty card at a supermarket, you leave a record of your activity which is permanent, attached to your identity, and increasingly linked with other information to build a more complete picture of who you are and […]

The Open University's Berrill Building in Milton Keynes

OU in LGBT top 100 employers index

19 January 2017

The Open University has earned a place in the prestigious 2017 Stonewall Top 100 Employers index. The Stonewall Workplace Equality Index is an annual audit of workplace culture for lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) staff. More than 430 employers submitted entries to the 2017 index, across the public, private and third sectors. The OU […]

The Open University Chancellor Asa Briggs addressing the audience at a graduation ceremony.

OU pays tribute to Asa Briggs, former OU Chancellor

5 October 2016

Members of the OU community, past and present, attended yesterday’s thanksgiving service for the late Asa Briggs. The former Vice-Chancellor Sir John Daniel, representing the OU and a close family friend, paid tribute to Asa’s remarkable contribution to the OU and announced the new Asa Briggs Chair in History. All the speakers brought out just […]

Three Open University soapbox scientists in their lab coats

Soapbox Science: Raising the profile of women in science

5 July 2016

A trio of female scientists from the OU will be sharing their love of science at the first ever Milton Keynes Soapbox Science event. Claire Batty, a researcher; Dr Julia Cooke, a lecturer in ecology; and PhD researcher Vibha Srivastava will each ‘stand on their soapboxes’ at Middleton Hall at thecentre:mk in Milton Keynes from […]

Former Zimbabwean refugee on the transforming power of education

24 June 2016

Alice Chigumira came to the UK in 2002 as a refugee from Zimbabwe where she’d worked for the Minister of Foreign Affairs for 12 years. She grew up during a time of social upheaval and distress, eventually forced out by political instability, to settle in Reading. As a widow with two small children, Alice adjusted […]

Professor Jacqui Gabb with her research impact award

OU professor wins research impact award

21 June 2016

The OU’s Professor Jacqui Gabb has won a research impact award for work completed on the Enduring Love? project, a study into the way couples sustain their long-term relationships. The inaugural Evelyn Gillan Research Impact Prize was presented by the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships in memory of the centre’s late colleague Evelyn […]

Three OU students who are all members of the same family (daughter, husband and dad)

‘Dad kept saying why not do the OU? So I did’

17 June 2016

Yvonne Quaintrell had a rough time and school and didn’t do well. But it wasn’t until she became a parent that she found herself so motivated by her dad that she decided to sign up too. And now it’s become a family affair. Yvonne was inspired to study with the OU by her father Harry, […]

Three OU scientists in front of a computer screen

Sniffing out life on Mars: mid-cruise check-out (and it’s 1-0 to England)

14 June 2016

Data is currently being received and reviewed from the ExoMars Mission – the launch of a spacecraft in March to demonstrate Europe’s first ever landing on Mars later this year, and an attempt to sniff out signs of life on the Red Planet. The ExoMars Orbiter is carrying an instrument with significant OU involvement which […]

Meet the OU academics behind The Big C and Me TV series

3 June 2016

OU academics are often nominated to work as consultants on Open University TV and radio co-productions which align with their areas of professional expertise. But what does this mean? They’re nominated by their faculty to consult on co-productions and work closely with the programme makers throughout, advising on research topics, commenting on draft scripts, fact checking and providing […]

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