Quality, Access and Scale in the
UK Open University
Dominic Newbould
Open University 1978 – 2011
April 2011
© 2008 The Open University. All Rights Reserved
Supported Open Learning
The Open University in 2011
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Over 1.5 million students since 1971
260,000+ students in 2011
55,000 outside UK
570 courses, 70+ subjects → 256
qualifications
The OU in a global market
Direct Teaching Provision
The OU in a global market
major partnerships - examples:
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Bangladesh – English in Action (EiA)
China – Peking U, Open University of China
Ethiopia – Ministry of Education + British Council
Middle East – Arab OU in 7 countries
Russia – IIM LINK
Singapore – UniSIM
Why have an Open University?
• To make higher education (HE) available to many more
people – widening participation
• To exploit technologies, methods and pedagogy to
achieve increased access to HE
• To improve the quality of teaching and learning in
Britain’s universities by sharing best practice
Have we been successful?
What is an Open University?
• Open – to people
Playing a leading role in the transition to mass higher
education by serving an increasingly large and diverse
student body, as well as customers, clients and partners.
• Open – to places
Contributing to a widening of educational opportunities
by making OU programmes, courses and services
available UK-wide and internationally.
What is an Open University? cont’d
• Open – to methods
Exploiting distance-teaching methods, new learning
technologies and teaching techniques to serve students
based at work, at home or on the move.
• Open – to ideas
The OU is a vibrant academic community dedicated to
the expansion, refinement and sharing of knowledge.
Open all hours
The OU’s first on-line
course in 1996:
a single day’s
log-on record of
students on-line
to the OU
Course: M206
Object Oriented Programming:
OU Structure
Funding and Quality Assurance
Teaching
Research
HEFC
QA
QAA
Fees
Production
Student
Support
REF
Study with the OU
• Open entry – no entry qualifications are usually required
for undergraduates
• Exit levels more important than entry levels – value
added greater
Who are OU students?
OU – 256 different Qualifications
37,000 awarded in 2009-2010
Innovation in teaching methods
and media
• OU offers an alternative higher education:
student centred
• The OU has pioneered new curriculum, instructional
design and use of media: learner focused
• Academics and teaching support staff need more
professional skills
UK National Student Satisfaction
Survey 2005-2010
• Over 260 HE Institutions surveyed.
• OU is at the top – awarded highest marks in the UK’s
National Student Survey 2005–2010
• OU also ranked first in The Times Higher Education
Supplement (THES) 2006.
OU and social networking:
more links
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YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/ou
iTunesU
http://www.open.ac.uk/itunes/
Social Learn
http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/sociallearn/
Challenges
• Designing learning and support strategies upfront
• Evolving the Supported Open Learning Model for the
electronic era—on-line and mobile learning.
• Exploiting new technologies, new media and methods
• The OU's Virtual Microscope
The OU in 2011
• Europe’s biggest University
• World-leading OU Business School
• In the top five UK Universities on teaching quality ratings
and Student Satisfaction Surveys 2005–10
• Blended learning in a multi-modal system.
• Teaching is “fit for purpose”
• 260,000 current students and clients
• 200,000 students studying online
• Excellence without exclusivity
Employer
Organisation
Corporation
Firm
Employee
Student
Individual
Higher
Education
Institution
(HEI)
University
Contact
Dominic Newbould
Director of External Relations
Open University Worldwide
d.r.a.newbould@open.ac.uk