{"id":28514,"date":"2026-06-25T13:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/?p=28514"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:36:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T12:36:22","slug":"ou-responds-to-government-student-outcomes-reforms-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/around-ou\/university-news\/ou-responds-to-government-student-outcomes-reforms-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"OU responds to Government student outcomes reforms announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Responding to the Government announcement today on\u00a0<\/span><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/questions-statements.parliament.uk\/written-statements\/detail\/2026-06-25\/hcws150\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u2018Student\u00a0outcomes\u00a0in higher education\u2019<\/span><\/b><\/a><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, Professor Dave Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, said:\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cWe recognise the concerns the government is\u00a0seeking\u00a0to address and support its determination to ensure that higher education delivers genuine opportunity and strong outcomes for learners.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cAs proposals are developed, it will be important to ensure we understand the underlying causes of the concerns we are\u00a0seeking\u00a0to address rather than taking an overly simplistic approach that focuses on the outcomes of those causes. Measures designed should be carefully targeted so that they do not inadvertently reduce opportunity for those who can benefit most from higher education.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cWe welcome the government\u2019s commitment to engage with the sector and look forward to continuing discussions with ministers,\u00a0officials\u00a0and the Office for Students. The OU has extensive experience of supporting diverse learners, particularly adults and those from non-traditional backgrounds, and we stand ready to help develop approaches that protect the integrity of the system while preserving access to opportunity.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThe Open University was founded on the belief that potential is not\u00a0determined\u00a0by prior qualifications or traditional routes into study.\u00a0Open access\u00a0remains\u00a0one of the most powerful tools we have for widening opportunity, supporting social\u00a0mobility\u00a0and developing the skills the country needs. Any changes to the system should continue to protect that principle.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Responding to the Government announcement today on\u00a0\u2018Student\u00a0outcomes\u00a0in higher education\u2019, Professor Dave Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, said:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe recognise the concerns the government is\u00a0seeking\u00a0to address and support its determination to ensure that higher education delivers genuine opportunity and strong outcomes for learners.\u202f\u00a0 \u201cAs proposals are developed, it will be important to ensure we understand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2580,1640],"class_list":["post-28514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-news-home-ou-news","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28516,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28514\/revisions\/28516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}