Brought into existence by Royal Charter in April 1969, the Open University
is a unique academic institution in Britain: a government-funded
place of higher education where almost all the courses are run on a
correspondence basis. Admission is generally available to anyone with
a basic level of education and courses are run on an open-ended
modular system, which allows students to select modules to fit in with
their lifestyles. Credits for completed modules remain indefinitely and
many people take courses only sporadically.
Although in theory it would be possible to complete a degree course from
the OU in the same length of time as at a traditional university, most people
take between 5-7 years, with it not being uncommon for occasional
learners to take a decade or more to get their degree. Consistently
placed among the top quartile of British universities, a degree or
post-degree award from the OU is a worldwide recognised
qualification, usually made all the more valuable due to the fact that
most OU students are studying because they want to, rather than because that's
what they ought to do.
Course material was originally distributed by post and lectures
broadcast on national radio, and soon after the BBC2 television channel
started showing lectures and programmes for study. These were usually
broadcast either very early in the morning or late at night, so that
people could fit them in with their working day. Today, with the
widespread uptake of VCRs the TV programmes are usually broadcast in the
small hours of the night, and more and more students are using the
internet to receive and send work.
The OU is now by far and away the largest university in the UK: there are
well over 200,000 men and women studying with it, mostly for Bachelor's or
Master's degrees. Additionally the University is now recognised as a
centre for research, with its originally small site in
Milton Keynes becoming a top ranking academic institution in its
own right.
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