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Open University graduates are in demand. A massive 75% of our alumni say they’ve experienced career progression thanks to their Open University studies.
With sponsorship, your employer could pay part or all of your tuition fees.
Employers recognise the value of Open University graduates and their qualifications. It’s one of the reasons why 78% of FTSE 100 companies have sponsored their staff to study with us and why we regularly train staff at more than 1,300 employers, including IBM, Sky and Oxford University.
If you’re working, and your modules and qualifications are relevant to your job or career development, your employer might be willing to sponsor you by paying some or all of your course fees.
Whether or not your employer is willing to sponsor you will generally depend on who your employer is. But, you’re more likely to secure funding if the course you’re interested in is relevant to your current job and will benefit your employer.
In some instances, you won’t be able to progress in your field without significant experience or a higher education qualification.
Some larger organisations already have sponsorship schemes – talk to your line manager or HR department to see if they’ll sponsor OU study.
When talking to any employer about being sponsored, try to think about the following:
Talking in detail about the course(s) you want to study and how you’ll apply them to your work will show how you’ve given OU study serious thought.
If your employer says yes to sponsoring you, you’ll first need to reserve on your module(s). You can do that online via your StudentHome page or over the phone.
Your employer will need to complete our sponsorship form, so you can send it back to us. You can download it from your StudentHome page.
If your employer is only partially sponsoring you, you’ll need to make sure you have another payment method secured to fund the remainder of your module fee(s). Our mixed payments page can help you with your options.
More than one in ten of our students are sponsored by their employer, which means their employer pays for their studies.
With my responsibilities and commitments, it would have been impossible for me to attend a traditional university. When my employer offered to sponsor my study as part of my professional development, it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
I am fortunate enough to have an employer who has funded 50% of my studies. I can honestly say that studying with the OU was one of the most positive, life changing decisions I have ever made.
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