The Open University

Planning for extreme weather disruption

8 February 2016

Helen Roby, Research Fellow in The Open University Business School, is part of the Disruption research project which looks at how travel is affected by disruptive events such as extreme weather. Writing for HR Magazine, Helen says: “Headlines can paint a picture of the UK economy struggling with extreme weather conditions – businesses forced to close, employees […]

Time to reset your career?

31 December 2015

Adam Prestwood began life after school pursuing a career in law, but changed track to finance and, with the help of his employers, hasn’t looked back since… When I left the sixth form, I didn’t know what to do and there seemed no easy way to push into finance as a career. I did Law at […]

Money, money, money

26 December 2015

Money fractures marriages, drives wars, inspires art, motivates some people to great achievements, leads others to despair. Fear, desire, love, hate, jealousy, anger, anxiety, relief, shame and many more shades of emotion may attach to money in the course of an ordinary day. However given the impact money can have do we talk enough about […]

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Most of UK workforce want finance education from employers

9 December 2015

Most of the UK workforce (81%) want personal finance education from their employers, with half of those surveyed admitting that a major life event, such as buying a property or leaving school, was the last time they revised their financial knowledge. The new survey was commissioned by The Open University Business School (OUBS) and Share […]

Elderly woman looking out of a window. Image credit: Thinkstock

How much of the new state pension will you get?

3 December 2015

The new state pension is being introduced in April 2016 but consumer research shows many people are confused by their entitlements. Research commissioned on behalf of the Open University Business School’s (OUBS) dedicated research centre, The True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (True Potential PUFin), found that 45% of employees (40% of […]

More women on company boards, but what about the public sector?

13 November 2015

There are now no all-male boards in FTSE 100 companies, marking a watershed in women’s representation, according to the launch of the Female FTSE Board Report 2015. Since the Davies Report set a target of 25% of women serving on boards of FTSE 100 companies four years ago, women’s representation has almost doubled. But the […]

Discover the life story of your T-shirt

11 November 2015

Getting dressed takes little more than five minutes. But did you know it takes as long as six months to make and market a T-shirt? And that doesn’t include the six months it takes to produce the cotton. This week is the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Festival of Social Science week (7th to […]

Photo of girl writing in a book in a home study

Should home education be more tightly regulated?

3 November 2015

Sunday can be a hectic evening for many families. A time to organise packed lunches, iron uniforms and polish school shoes. But for a sizeable minority such pressures do not apply. In July 2014, there were 27,292 five to 16-year-olds in England who were home educated, according to statistics compiled from local authority records by […]

Film reel, director's chair, clapper board and lighting. Image: Thinkstock

Free online course looks at the business of film-making

1 October 2015

The Open University Business School and Pinewood Studios have launched a free online course considering the business side of film-making. Available on the online social learning platform FutureLearn as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), ‘The Business of Film’ course coincides with the opening of the 59th British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival. It explores the key […]

By extending the remit of PCCs, the government is playing with fire

25 September 2015

The UK government has proposed to extend the remit of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to cover other emergency services, including fire and rescue. The system has been called a “failed experiment” by the Independent Police Commission, and has continued to attract criticism since its inception in 2012. So why widen the remit of PCCs, […]

OU News

Category: Business and law