Available onlineThe Open University
(page 2 of 4)| Video: | Setting up The Open University |
|---|---|
| Duration: | 00:04:36 |
| Date: | 1983 |
Jennie took Harold Wilson’s idea and added her own values and ideas. In this clip of an oral history interview conducted with former OU Chancellor Lord Asa Briggs in 2008, he discusses Jennie’s focus for the project.
As Lord Briggs describes, Jennie’s main focus for the project was that the University should not be a “poor man’s” university, offering second class degrees, but a high-quality independent institution.
This press release from 1966 reveals that in the two years since she had been given the project, Jennie’s ideas had developed. She preferred to call the institution The Open University rather than the University of the Air – taking the focus away from television and towards the key principle that it was open to anyone, irrespective of their previous education experience.
It is due largely to Jennie’s determination that despite a hostile environment from several sides, she managed to push through the creation of an Advisory board and acquired a budget (which – probably helpfully – turned out to be significantly lower than the actual figure needed). The Advisory group created a White paper recommending that a planning committee for the university should be created.
The Planning Committee set down the main practical considerations of the new institution in the Venables Report. In the video clip on this page - Jennie, Harold Wilson and Ralph Toomey talk about the setting up of the Planning Committee which subsequently led to the Venables Report.
