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The latest feature in our series about pioneering staff of The Open University takes a closer look at the OU’s founding Vice-Chancellor Walter Perry.

Born in Dundee in 1921, Walter Laing McDonald Perry studied medicine at St Andrews before graduating in 1943. He spent two years as a doctor in Nigeria working for the Colonial Medical Service before moving into the field of research, taking up the first of a series of posts with the National Institute for Medical Research in 1947. He was awarded an OBE in 1957. In 1958 he was appointed Professor of Pharmacology at Edinburgh University, and over the next decade he began to be involved in university administration there. By the end of his time at Edinburgh he had been promoted to Vice-Principal.

In 1960 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (Edinburgh). In 1963, he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh), and in 1967 a Fellow. In 1978 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London). In 1985 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.

As its founding Vice-Chancellor, Walter Perry was one of the key figures in the creation and establishment of The Open University. He was appointed in May 1968, although it was more than a year later that he was officially installed at the opening Charter Ceremony in July 1969.

It has often been said that without Walter Perry, The Open University might not have made it through those crucial early years, and certainly the take-up from students and interest in the OU exceeded all expectations. He wasn’t afraid to muck in with the rest of the early university staff as they moved to the Walton Hall campus and created much of what is unique about the OU:

• the range of educational media, from TV and radio programmes to printed course materials and home experiment kits;
• the ongoing range of courses and much of the actual academic structure of the university
• he is recognised as the first UK Vice-Chancellor to establish a successful system for transfer of academic credits.

His book, “Open University, A personal account by the first Vice-Chancellor”, provides a wealth of information about how this was done.

He was knighted in 1974 and became a life peer – Lord Perry of Walton – in 1979, both of which while he was the serving Vice-Chancellor. After more than a decade of active leadership, vision and advocacy for The Open University, he effectively retired from the role of Vice-Chancellor in 1980.

Walter Perry received several honorary degrees and was involved in various societies and commissions, many educational. In 1994 he was awarded the Wellcome Gold Medal and in 2000 he was awarded the Royal medal from the RSE. Perry passed away in 2003.