The Open University

The best of both worlds – working and studying cyber security with the OU

24 March 2021

Pierce Holland was at a crossroads in his life at 18. He had a been offered a place at university, but the subjects he was going to study didn’t excite him. His employer offered him a managerial role and his parents wanted him to work. Then a conversation with an old school teacher led him […]

OU study unlocks ambition for Glasgow support counsellor

4 March 2021

Starting an Open University (OU) degree course has unlocked new ambitions for Glasgow based Zara Dyer who was told she has ‘no prospects’ at school but now studies part-time while working as a support advisor for people who have experienced alcohol and substance abuse. Speaking on the new Open University podcast Life…On Our Terms, 27-year-old […]

Wellbeing advice from one student to another

3 March 2021

As we mark University Mental Health Day, it’s important that we all look after our wellbeing. OU graduate Liz Burnett champions mental health awareness in her blog and her cake business, following her own experience of a breakdown in 2014. Here, she shares some invaluable advice, to fellow students… Whether you deferred this academic year, […]

How OU students are making a difference during global pandemic

30 April 2020

OU students work so hard and the university is incredibly proud of them for studying while juggling full-time jobs, childcare and other responsibilities. On top of that, many have been playing a supporting role in the fight against Coronavirus, helping local and wider communities. From working on the frontline to creating resources to help with […]

New, Earth-sized planet found in habitable zone

15 April 2020

A team of scientists from around the world have discovered an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star’s habitable zone, the area around a star where a rocky planet could support liquid water. Scientists from The Open University, NASA, University of Texas, SETI Institute and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics discovered a new planet, called Kepler-1649c, […]

How to study with the OU: advice from students to students

13 February 2020

Our students work incredibly hard, committing to their studies while juggling a combination of life, illness, disability, work and family, and they somehow find time to fit everything in. If you’re just beginning that journey you might be feeling a little overwhelmed, wondering how you’re going to make it all work. So who better to […]

“The OU gave me the tools to go out and make a difference”

1 January 2020

Bradley Neal always had an interest in the natural world and a concern with what was happening to the planet so he decided he was going to try and make a difference, starting with educating himself on the environment and the issues affecting it. “I have a passion for the natural world. The decline in […]

“I’m not sure where I’d have been without the OU”

17 December 2019

As an unmarried single mother in the 1970s, Elizabeth Tye found it difficult to make her dreams of university come true. After two attempts of studying at a conventional brick university, in 1972, 23-year-old Elizabeth enrolled with the OU, becoming one of our early pioneer students. It was an opportunity which she says has ‘opened […]

All an OU student wants for Christmas is…

20 December 2018

So what do OU students want for Christmas? We took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and asked our community of students what would be on their end of year wish list. More stationery? A time machine? Someone to clean the house? There were some surprising requests, and a couple are back from last year’s wish list due to […]

“The single greatest gift that study gave me was hope” – how the OU changes prisoners’ lives

17 October 2018

“The single greatest gift that OU study gave me was hope” says John, an ex-offender who spent six years in prison. CJ went from serving nine-and-a-half years in prison for drug trafficking to gaining a first class Law degree, confidence, and employment. And Stephen, jailed for importing drugs, says that starting with the OU was […]

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