Exhibition: 50 Years of the OU Students Association

The foundation of Freshers

Freshers, which is held twice a year to coincide with the two module starts, consists of two weeks of online activities and events to welcome new and returning OU students to the community. Now an exciting and vital feature in the Association’s annual calendar, it is easy to forget that Freshers was only launched in 2014. 

Jon Rainford, Vice President Education Support and Research 2012-14, and Nik Morris who was Vice President Representation at the same time, were part of the Association’s Student Leadership Team, then known as the Central Executive Committee, at the time when Freshers was first conceived. 

Jon shared, “During my time on the Central Executive Committee we saw the type of students joining the OU shift, from later-life learners to something with a greater proportion of under 25s. The challenge for the Students Association was how to ensure that this new wave of students had the support they expected from a student body and felt that the Association catered for them as well. Whilst we had several well-established societies, historically we did not have anything like the famed Freshers Weeks these young students expected to help them understand what their student bodies could offer, and to find out about all those societies.” 

Nik’s daughter was part of this wave of younger students when she joined in 2012 and gave the student leaders a glimpse of what might be missing. “When she gained access to her StudentHome page, she naturally had lots of questions about where to locate things, how things worked, what could she do and when etc., and one off the cuff comment of “I’m glad I’ve got you to ask where everything is and how studying at the OU works – otherwise I’d be lost before I start” – sparked a thought. With that increase in younger students, and the lack of anything like Freshers in place at the OU, it looked like this was something we could arrange via the Students Association.” 

Through letting the Association see things from her perspective, Beth Morris helped identify some of the ways in which the Association needed to adapt to cater for this very different audience. The goals for the first iterations of Freshers were modest – to inform and engage a wider demographic of students with what the Students Association could offer. Jon and Nik worked with Association staff members Wendy Burrell and Jess Smith to create a pilot, which initially resembled a module website in February 2012, and then quickly shifted to a more accessible home on the website, which facilitated the inclusion of far richer and interactive content. This enabled the first full Freshers to have live Q&As – something which lives on today – as well as the first ever student radio broadcast. 

Jon noted, “In that first year, we managed to gain 23,000 unique web visits which was quite something, and we sold out of many of the offerings in the OU Students Shop! Gladly this impact seems a drop in the ocean today thanks to the countless dedicated OU students’ staff, volunteers and student reps who have continued to build on its legacy and have turned that spark of an idea into an eternal flame in the Association calendar.” 

Nik added, “As an odd coincidence, the OU had become aware of a lack of support for new students, so had started working on their Student Hub Live project. This was serendipitous timing as it enabled the Association to support the OU, and the OU to support the Association. Both of these projects are still going strong and provide a huge amount of useful information and support.” 

With almost 600 students now engaging with Freshers every year, it has become a much valued and informative celebration for all OU students keen to learn more and interact with their student community.