The Open University

Pensions: how yours may have been affected by recent market turmoil

27 October 2022

Jonquil Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Personal Finance at The Open University, explains how pensions have been affected by former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget and his replacement’s U-turn. The early signs are that the financial markets have been appeased by the government’s October 17 decision to reverse two-thirds of its September mini-budget tax […]

‘My OU MBA has given me a voice’ says charity CEO

27 October 2022

Maria, 54, is the CEO of sustainable clothing charity TRAID and credits her Open University MBA qualification with helping her boost her career even further. She’s now focused on using her skills to encourage the next generation of CEOs to champion environmental issues. Maria shares her story so far: “I went to a comprehensive school […]

Love FE, Love HE, Love Education #LoveOurColleges

26 October 2022

Last week marked another successful Colleges Week, it is always fantastic to see the celebration of what colleges bring to our education system, to our local communities and how they enrich people from every walk of life and every background. What’s clear, and not just from the celebrations last week, is that colleges are at […]

Four ways to spot hints of alien life using the James Webb Space Telescope

24 October 2022

Joanna Barstow, The Open University: The study of exoplanets, worlds which orbit stars other than our sun, is currently being transformed by the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We will shortly gain our first insight into conditions on rocky, potentially Earth-like worlds beyond our solar system. One of these distant worlds might host life. […]

Honorary degree for David Harrison as first digital Harrison Centre opens

24 October 2022

The graduation ceremony took place at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Yorkshire where MBA alumnus David Harrison received his award. He was nominated for the ‘exceptional contribution’ he has made to highlighting the need to improve public understanding of personal finance – an area of work that is of special educational concern to the OU […]

OpenLearn’s ‘Race and Ethnicity Hub’ wins prestigious award

21 October 2022

The Open University’s (OU) free learning site, OpenLearn has won an award at this year’s Open Education Awards for Excellence for it’s Race and Ethnicity Hub, which was launched following the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Winner of the ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion‘ award for its outstanding contribution to the open education community, the […]

Help for people supporting Ukrainians in the UK launched by OU

20 October 2022

The Open University (OU) has launched a new free online course for people housing, caring for or working with Ukrainians in the UK. The course focuses on Ukrainian culture and language and has been developed specifically for UK residents hosting refugees, and service providers working with people who have arrived from Ukraine. Providing an insight […]

Are the moves by the new Chancellor enough?

19 October 2022

Two economists at The Open University deliver their verdict on Jeremy Hunt’s budget statement – his first since stepping into the shoes of his newly departed predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng. Jonquil Lowe, senior lecturer in economics and personal finance, said: The government has bowed to the financial markets and rowed back on most of the tax […]

Kwarteng paid the price for the miscalculations of previous Chancellors

17 October 2022

Alan Shipman, a senior lecturer in economics at The Open University, gives his opinion on the historical reasons Mr Kwarteng “had to go”. Kwasi Kwarteng will be remembered as the Chancellor who blew the government’s economic credibility with unfunded tax cuts. But his strategy was the only one left, after a series of earlier mistakes […]