Whitepapers and reports

Social justice, wellbeing and authenticity. These are some of the key themes in The Open University’s (OU) Trends in Learning 2021 report. Launching at the CIPD’s Festival of Work conference, the annual report identifies and explores emerging trends in the learning and education sectors. 

The embrace of technology by small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) across the UK has rapidly accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic first began – accelerating innovation in the process. However, we also know that of those businesses that adopt technology, most are unsuccessful.

The Open University, in association with The 5% Club, commissioned a survey of over 600 employers in England about their plans for apprenticeships in the coming months. The polling was conducted in January 2021 amongst small and large businesses from across the private, public and third sector.

The Open University is today calling for significant reform in adult social work and social care to aid the sectors’ recovery from COVID-19. 

Organisations need to start thinking about learning differently. They need to think of it as a benefit, something that benefits them, benefits individuals and teams, and also benefits society as a whole. That is the central theme of a new whitepaper, Closing the opportunity gap: The economic drivers for learning as a benefit, produced by The Open University and Uber, in association with TrainingZone.

The latest OpenLearn annual report has been published. It shows that interest in the free learning site has soared to unprecedented levels, with global visitors surpassing the 80 million mark since its launch in 2006. OpenLearn, which is an integral part of The Open University (OU), offers bite-sized learning across a broad range of topics. Many OpenLearn visitors make the transition from informal to formal learning, inspired and emboldened by their experiences on the platform.

The Open University, in collaboration with TrainingZone, has launched a report to help employers reap the benefits of flexible learning.

Access to Apprenticeships is a new report by The Open University (OU) which explores access to, and the availability of, apprenticeships for people with declared disabilities. It is based on the results of a major survey of over 700 large and small employers across England.

A partnership between The Open University and IBM features in the new State of the Relationship report by The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), launched today.