News

The Open University is saddened to learn of the passing of Her Majesty The Queen and joins people across the world in expressing our condolences to the Royal family. 

Her Majesty granted The Open University its Royal Charter in 1969 and visited its Milton Keynes campus with the Duke of Edinburgh on the institution’s tenth anniversary, in 1979. 

Didn’t get the A-level results you were hoping for? Or perhaps you can’t afford to study with a traditional university.  Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be the end of your learning journey. The Open University offers students in Northern Ireland a flexible and affordable way to continue learning and building career options for the future.

An exciting new partnership between The Open University (OU) and SERC has been announced today growing the OU’s validation of degrees through local Further Education Colleges in Northern Ireland.  The partnership is one of four with local FE colleges and the partnership with SERC adds four new foundation degrees and two degrees to the SERC HE offering.

OUSA Area Representatives play an important role and help our students to have a genuine opportunity to influence some of the University's most important decisions.

Area Representatives have the primary responsibility of supporting the development of a student community in their area and representing the views of students.

Jordan’s story is a bit like all of us. She left school with an idea of what she wanted to do with her life, become a physiotherapist, so leaving school she pursued a degree in physiotherapy. But, like a lot of us as well, when she embarked on this route and started to experience it, she realised that it was not for her. Regrettably, she pulled out of the course and a few months later she felt stuck and unsure what to do with her life.

The Open University (OU) has ranked no.1 for Overall Student Satisfaction in Northern Ireland for the eighteenth year in a row in the National Student Survey (NSS) results published today.

The NSS is an annual survey of nearly half a million final year students across the UK.  It is their opportunity to give honest feedback about what it has been like to study on their course at their university or college.

Northern Ireland businesses are experiencing the knock-on effect of ongoing skills shortages and recruitment challenges according to The Open University’s Business Barometer 2022 report, published in partnership today (Wednesday 29^th June) with the British Chambers of Commerce.

Data from The Open University and British Chambers of Commerce shows 83% of respondents in NI agree their organisation is currently facing skills shortages.

The Open University has surveyed 4,300 young adults from across all four nations of the UK to find out what societal challenges concern them most. Those surveyed consider sustainability and the environment (64%), inequality of opportunity (58%) and health and wellbeing (56%) as the societal challenges that concern them most across the UK.

An Open University research project which is making historical army barracks’ buildings across the island of Ireland more accessible to people in the North and South has received funding.

The North-South Research Programme in Ireland has awarded The Open University (OU) and University College Dublin (UCD) €200k to deliver a project mapping, inventorying, and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921.

Two young entrepreneurs from two of the fastest growing sectors in Northern Ireland are helping BBC TV and Radio 1 presenter Gemma Cairney take the helm of a ‘business’ this week as part of The Open University’s challenge to inspire young people to ‘Unlock Your Inner Boss’.