When was open university founded

I also pointed out that, because a university is only as good as its academics, the university needs to invest fully in them, so that they can be just as innovative and forward-looking as they were in the s when the OU began. If the OU is to be saved, such processes need to be speeded up, the hiring of more academic staff needs to be prioritised, and risks need to be taken — a few may fail, but if the OU is to regain its former impressive reputation for innovation, it must continue to attract and keep a new generation of students.

The OU should go all out for those young students who choose to get a job at 18 rather than face the tuition fees of the conventional university sector, and the cost of many courses needs to be lowered so that these courses can again be afforded by those interested in learning for its own sake.

How will all these innovations be paid for? And most of all, the OU needs the sort of academic leadership that caused it to flourish so well in its early days.

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You are here Home Strategy and policies Facts and figures. Our global reach Open University students are not just in the UK. Over 7, international students directly studying with the OU Over 1. Since we began, more than 2 million people worldwide have achieved their learning goals by studying with us. And as of , over , students are learning with us, including 10, from more than countries — many accessing course materials on their smartphones and tablets, studying when and where it suits them best.

While the world has come a long way in those fifty years, our founding principles remain the same: to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.

Skip to content. Degrees and courses for international students. You are viewing information for England. Change country or region. Bill Bryson, author and honorary graduate of The Open University The year was revolutionary: in space, man landed on the moon. Between church and lunch I wrote the whole outline for a University of the Air.