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News from The Open University

Catalonia: a year on, political prisoners go unnoticed by the rest of the world

Catalonia: a year on, political prisoners go unnoticed by the rest of the world

After an unofficial referendum in October 2017, the pro-independence political parties in the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence from Spain. In response, the Spanish government invoked Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution which effectively suspended the region’s autonomy. More than a year on from these events, ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont remains in exile in […]

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Grenfell Tower film wins national award

Grenfell Tower film wins national award

A film about the Grenfell Tower tragedy, created by Dr David Scott, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, has won an award at the British Documentary Film Festival.  Winning in the ‘Life Changing Award’ category, the film – called ‘Grenfell Tower and Social Murder‘ includes powerful testimonies from survivors and families of the bereaved. Dr Scott said: […]

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School series pic

BBC series School: your questions answered

Why can teachers no longer just be teachers? What are the human impacts of budget cuts on today’s school children? Is pastoral care an important part of a student journey or a symptom of the snowflake era? These are all issues uncovered following the first episode of School last week – questions then put to academic […]

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D'oh!

Myth-busting assumptions about OU study

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 […]

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Government must urgently address decline in part-time and mature learners, says report

Maintenance grants for part-time students, expansion of degree apprenticeships and credit transfer are just some of the recommendations aimed at addressing the decline in part-time and mature learners in the Education Select Committee’s report Value for Money in Higher Education. The report published today has been strongly welcomed by The Open University for recognising the […]

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Open University free law clinic highly commended at pro bono legal awards

Open University free law clinic highly commended at pro bono legal awards

The Open Justice Centre’s Law Clinic, which offers free online legal advice led by OU students supervised by qualified solicitors, was highly commended in the LawWorks Annual Pro Bono Awards. They received their award in the ‘Best new pro bono activity’ category at the award ceremony at the Law Society in London on Monday 3 […]

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Bicycle basket filled with colourful fruit and veg- Pinkyone via Shutterstock

Vegans: why they inspire fear and loathing among meat eaters

Food critic William Sitwell has resigned as editor of Waitrose’s in-house magazine following a row over his astonishingly hostile response to a freelance journalist who proposed a series of articles on veganism. A statement from the food retailer said that John Brown Media – which produces the Waitrose & Partners Food Magazine – had announced […]

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Gwyneth Paltrow

Goop: a classicist’s take on the ‘power’ of ancient remedies

Lifestyle company Goop – founded and run by actor and businessperson Gwyneth Paltrow – was fined US$145,000 (£112,000) for making unscientific claims about products on its website: specifically, that its jade and rose quartz eggs, intended to be inserted vaginally, could help to balance hormones and regulate menstrual cycles. In a recent interview with the […]

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Money and financial graph. Image credit: Thinkstock

Budget Commentary: Jam tomorrow for the poor

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 […]

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Hyperspectral images taken by Teledyne e2v CCD55-20 sensor.

OU renews partnership for space detector technologies

A new five-year partnership has been agreed between The Open University (OU)’s Centre for Electronic Imaging (CEI) and innovative technology company Teledyne e2v. Together the collaboration will advance imaging detector technology for space science and earth observations. Specifically the partnership will continue to develop “space hardened” CCD and CMOS detector technologies from x-ray, ultraviolet, to […]

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