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April 11, 2005
The Open University and diversity
The Open University is a distance learning institute, the largest university in England, with around 220,000 registered students at any one time. It is rated in the top ten British universities. It also has no entrance requirements for its undergraduate students. Prime Minister Harold Wilson laid the foundations for its existence, and the university was granted its Royal Charter in 1969. One of the interesting things about the OU is that although small groups of undergraduate students will meet for tutorial sessions two or three times per month, there's no equivalent of a campus. So the nearest that most OU students get to this is the residential summer school. Each summer throughout the United Kingdom, thousands of people of all ages from all walks of life descend upon the campuses of Bath and Nottingham, Norwich and Edinburgh, among others, to learn a little bit about what undergraduate life can be like. This means teamwork, social activities and having a one week away from home where you can focus totally on your studies - a blessing for many OU students. The thing that struck me most about my summer school in 1990 was how different we all were. I was a junior programmer in a bank. Ethel was a 45 year old Naval commander. Bob was a North sea diver working on oil rigs (and carried a little silver hipflask that he would take a swig from now and again during lectures, always being kind enough to pass it around - never did figure out what was in it). Dennis was a fireman. Tony was a dentist. Susan was a housewife. And so on. It was as if you'd taken a random group of people and put them together. I suppose, given the vast numbers of people who study with the OU, that's basically what we were. We all got on well. Some did better than others. Towards the end, there were arguments and fallings out - hardly surprising when you've just spent virtually every waking moment for seven days in each other's company. But the overwhelming impression I had was one of fun - fun in studying, and fun in socialising. I was so sorry the week had to end. I haven't seen or heard from them since. I wonder what they're doing these days?
Posted by daen at April 11, 2005 11:50 PM