The Open University UK in Europe

Professor Alan Tait

Pro Vice-Chancellor

The Open University UKMESI Moscow, March 2012

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Open University Mission

• The Open University is open to people, places, methods and ideas.

• It promotes educational opportunity and social justice by providing high quality university education to all who wish to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.

• Through academic research, pedagogic innovation and collaborative partnership it seeks to be a world leader in the design, content and delivery of supported open and distance learning.  2

Outcome of OU Mission

• 250000 students

• Age range segments

• Range of Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral students

• No obligatory educational qualifications on entry for undergraduates

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Graduation Statistics

Total number of degrees awarded since 1971

First Degrees 329,067

Higher Degrees 52,697

Total number of graduates 381,7644

Quality Standards

• National Student Survey: top 3 of all UK universities

• Research Assessment Exercise: 42nd out of 160 universities

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Distance Education and the Internationalisation of Education

• Distance education has courses in material form that can move across frontiers

• Digital world makes that easier

• Demands outstrips supply of Higher Education on global basis

• On-line world makes study across borders more acceptable

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Main Approaches to International Teaching

• Direct teaching: OU qualifications

• Teaching through partnerships for OU qualifications

• Validated teaching for OU qualifications

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The Context of Europe

• The European Union project

• Freedom of movement of labour and capital

• 27 member countries, 500m inhabitants and 23 main languages

• 51% claim understanding of English

• Education not EU level responsibility

• But role of Higher Education as training in support of labour market

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Higher Education Qualifications in Europe

• Bologna framework for HE from 1999

• The ‘Higher Education area’ in Europe

• To support mobility of labour

• To create regional HE achievement in global competition, especially USA and Asia

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Bologna Aims

• To make it easier to move from one country to another

• To attract talent from outside the EU

• To support knowledge and research base in Europe

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Bologna: Concrete Initiatives

• Common qualifications framework of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral levels

• First Bachelors degree of 3 year cycle

• ECTS: European Credit Transfer system

• European dimension to Quality Assurance

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Higher Education in Europe: Some Issues

• Fees: no UK government subsidy for OU outside UK

• Fees culture in HE in Europe variable

• Quality of teaching in European HE variable

• Reputation of OU UK, and of distance education

• HE national legislation and employment12

Beginnings in Europe

• Armed Forces in Germany and Cyprus

• Civil servants and their families in EU institutions

• First build in Benelux

• 1990-1993 Eurodesk project to build OU UK throughout EU

• By 1993 in all EU countries, c. 5.500 students

• Administrative Co-ordinators

• Face to face tuition as student numbers permitted13

Student Numbers

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Registered Students in Mainland Europe - 2012

Slovenia

87

41

1392

51956758

419

78027067

3108

183456

1827

431371

203

60

35

Portugal Spain(& Gibraltar)

421France

Italy (& Malta)

Greece (& Cyprus)

Bulgaria

RomaniaSwitzerland

AustriaHungary

Slovakia

CzechRepublic

GermanyPoland

Netherlands

Belgium

Luxembourg

Denmark

Sweden

Finland

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

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Open University in Europe

• Relevance of curriculum

• From Social Sciences to Mathematics

• Central has been Management and Business Studies

• Internationalisation of faculty

• Quality of service to students

• Direct services versus partnerships

• Employment issues and consumer rights16

European Audiences

• Expatriates and their families

• English speaking international communities, e.g. Geneva and UN organisations

• Local communities, e.g. Greece

• MBA, e.g. in Germany

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OU and Russia

• From 1991 OU partnership with LINK in Moscow

• 2012 c. 3,200 students on Certificates and Diplomas in Management, and MBAs

• Licensed teaching and directly taught

• In Russian and English

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Another Example: the FernUniversität,Germany

• Expansion to other German speaking countries, Austria, Switzerland

• Hungary

• Partnership working outside own ‘Land’

• 80,000 total students

• 6071 students, including 86 in Russia with study centre in Smolensk 19

La Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) Spain

• 200,000 total students

• 2134 outside Spain

• Mostly in Latin America

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More Widely….

• Significant offering of on-line programmes internationally in English

• Most popular programmes in professional areas, e.g. Business and Management, Computing, Health etc

• For profit and sometimes only for profit

• Globally demand for Higher Education outstrips supply

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Summary: Essential Issues

• Distance education works across frontiers

• Common language or translation

• Higher education cultures

• Recognition of qualifications

• Brand in crowded landscape of providers

• Governmental permission and regulation

• Legal compliance is key

• Quality student service and support22

Thank you!

Спасибо!

Alan Tait

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