Description A look at the early history of the Open University. Featuring an interview with John Horlock; interviews with employers about Open University graduates; interview with Joe Clinch; a look at the Ope
... n University campus and the preparation of course material.
1 00:00:00,000 00:00:01,000 Countdown to the OU 1 (1983) FOUF053S
1 00:00:00,000 00:00:01,000 Countdown to the OU 1 (1983) FOUF053S
2 00:00:01,000 00:00:02,000 (Narrator) The plans for The Open University were first outlined by…
2 00:00:01,000 00:00:04,000 Jennie Lee: Now it seemed to me just logic to try to bring the best in…
3 00:00:03,000 00:00:06,000 ..Harold Wilson at the 1963 Labour Party Conference in Scarborough.
3 00:00:05,000 00:00:09,000 …higher education within reach of people who felt that they could be…
4 00:00:07,000 00:00:10,000 Harold Wilson: And relevant also to these problems are our plans for a…
4 00:00:10,000 00:00:14,000 ..advantaged by it. The Prime Minister made a bargain with me and he kept it.
5 00:00:11,000 00:00:15,000 ..University of the Air, is designed to provide an opportunity for those,
5 00:00:15,000 00:00:19,000 I was Minister for the Arts and he said "For God’s sake will you take on…
6 00:00:16,000 00:00:20,000 who for one reason or another, have not been able to take advantages…
6 00:00:20,000 00:00:23,000 ..this university project?" because there was nobody in the department,
7 00:00:21,000 00:00:25,000 ..of higher education, now to do so; with all the TV and radio and the…
7 00:00:23,000 00:00:26,000 none of the ministers, senior, nobody in the Treasury.
8 00:00:26,000 00:00:29,000 ..state sponsored correspondence course and the facilities of…
8 00:00:27,000 00:00:30,000 Inside the Cabinet they either didn’t understand what it was about…
9 00:00:29,000 00:00:32,000 ..a university for setting and marking papers and conducting…
9 00:00:31,000 00:00:33,000 …- preoccupied with their own jobs - or were actively hostile.
10 00:00:32,000 00:00:36,000 ..examinations and awarding degrees, that all these things can provide.
10 00:00:34,000 00:00:37,000 And I said "Harold, I’ll take it on on the same conditions as the Arts,
11 00:00:37,000 00:00:41,000 (Narrator) When he became Prime Minister in 1964 few people believed that…
11 00:00:38,000 00:00:42,000 that you’ll back me when I need money". Now he never let me down.
12 00:00:41,000 00:00:44,000 ..a University of the Air was possible or even necessary…
13 00:00:45,000 00:00:46,000 ..but he was determined to go ahead.
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