From another source... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11854659/Let-failing-universities-go-to-the-wall-says-minister.html And it's interesting.
I arm wrestled with OU for years, over the matter of acceptance of students from the US, which could have been a huge market for them. (Still could.) They required that all materials be sent to an address in the UK. So, in my book, I explained how to hire a mail forwarding service in the UK that would send stuff to the US. That really riled them, and they told me to stop. "But it's legal," I replied. "Perhaps," they said, "But it's wrong."
With DL becoming mainstream the OU loses its uniqueness. It's called market saturation. In many businesses initially there are a limited number of players but when demand exceeds supply then more players jump on the bandwagon to the point where every man and his dog wants a piece of the pie. This results in market saturation where supply exceeds demand so weaker players are often driven out of business or taken over. It seems they are being forced to justify through numbers of students rather than being allowed to show the difference they actually make. Maybe the OU UK shouldn't need to try to justify through numbers of students, but rather just show their record for providing a university education to those from more deprived backgrounds? https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/09/15/rebuilding-british-higher-educations-most-unusual-institution Rebuilding British higher education’s most unusual institution.
At this point there are quite a few OU programs available to US residents (and a bunch that are not). They have this cute little feature to their website where you tell them where you're living and they only show you the programs available to you. Here's the list of BA/BS degrees Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities (Art History) Arts and Humanities (Classical Studies) Arts and Humanities (Creative Writing) Arts and Humanities (English Language) Arts and Humanities (English Literature) Arts and Humanities (History) Arts and Humanities (Music) Arts and Humanities (Philosophy) Arts and Humanities (Religious Studies) Business Management Business Management (Accounting) Business Management (Economics) Business Management (Innovation and Enterprise) Business Management (Leadership Practice) Business Management (Marketing) Childhood and Youth Studies Classical Studies Combined STEM Criminology Criminology and Law Criminology and Psychology Economics and Mathematical Sciences Education Studies (Primary) English Language and Literature English Literature English Literature and Creative Writing Environmental Management and Technology Environmental Science Forensic Psychology Health Sciences Healthcare and Health Science History History and Politics International Studies Language Studies Language Studies with English and French Language Studies with English and German Language Studies with English and Spanish Language Studies with French and German Language Studies with French and Spanish Language Studies with German and Spanish Law Law (graduate entry) Mathematics Mathematics and its Learning Mathematics and Physics Mathematics and Statistics Natural Sciences Natural Sciences (Astronomy and Planetary Science) Natural Sciences (Biology) Natural Sciences (Chemistry) Natural Sciences (Earth Sciences) Natural Sciences (Environmental Science) Natural Sciences (Physics) Open degree Philosophy and Psychological Studies Politics, Philosophy and Economics Psychology Psychology with Counselling Social Psychology Social Sciences Social Sciences (Criminology) Social Sciences (Economics) Social Sciences (Geography) Social Sciences (Politics) Social Sciences (Psychology) Social Sciences (Religious Studies) Social Sciences (Sociology) Top-up BA (Honours) Early Childhood Top-up BSc (Honours) Computing and IT Practice
Happy Anniversary! https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17602915.50-years-since-the-open-university-transformed-learning/
