Welcome to the Virtual Education Wiki ~ Open Education Wiki
Open University National Role
The Open University National Role is a National initiative in England (a home nation of the UK) funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)via a £7.8 million grant from its Strategic Development Fund (SDF) to address shared solutions to common problems in the UK higher education sector. The grant will enable UK universities to act collaboratively to improve student retention and deliver more flexible provision in the higher education sector. (Note that HEFCE will allocate around £196 million to the Open University for teaching and research in 2009-10.)
The funding will be focused on three projects, all of which will be led by the OU with its national reach:
- Shared Returns, a regionally based student retention initiative
- SCORE, a Support Centre for Open Resources in Education
- Academic Partnership Hub which will move the sector towards more flexible education offerings.
HEFCE has been working with The Open University since 2005 to develop its role as a central resource for the HE sector, enabling the university to act as a catalyst for partnership and collaboration with other universities and colleges.
The three projects
About 35,000 students a year in England do not complete their higher education courses, and many are not currently aware of the options available to them when they leave university part-way through a degree. The Shared Returns project – initially run as a pilot in the north-west of England from the OU's regional office – will proactively offer students advice on continuing their studies in higher education. The OU, UCAS and the other partner universities in the north-west will work together to give students at risk of leaving, or who have left HE, information and guidance to help inform their decisions. This may be referring them to other local universities, advising them of alternative degree course options or looking at what career aims they have. It is estimated that 10-15% of non-completing students will be retained in higher education as a result of the project.
SCORE
SCORE stands for Support Centre for Open Resources in Education, will be a centre to identify and promote good practice in educational technology and open resources. With today’s students increasingly technologically literate, SCORE will help institutions to develop new resources and services to enhance teaching and reduce the costs of course development.
Academic Partnership Hub
The third project is an Academic Partnership Hub which will help to bring about cultural and organisational changes in the sector to allow for closer collaboration. Promoting and managing cross-sector projects, the Hub will deliver change and innovation to move the higher education sector towards more flexible provision for students. In the future, this could see the provision of a flexible degree with both distance learning and face to face modules, and which would support a smooth transition between part-time and full-time education according to the student’s changing circumstances.
Quotations at the launch
The UK Prime Minister said:
- The success of distance learning, pioneered 40 years ago by the Open University, has been nothing short of a revolution for higher education. It has opened the doors to a whole new audience of students who have not only seen academic success but reaped the wider rewards learning brings.
- An approach to higher education which emphasises accessibility and flexibility has put the UK at the forefront of e-learning and to build on this achievement with a new £20 million fund (OLIF) to support centres of excellence for online learning.
- I am also supporting the Open University with additional funding to further its role as a national leader, working with other institutions, to develop distance learning.
Professor David Vincent, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at The Open University, said:
- The landscape of higher education and the needs of today’s students are changing rapidly and in order to address these challenges, a collaborative approach is hugely important. Being open with resources and content has always been a part of the OU’s mission to widen participation in education. We are extremely excited by the potential that these projects present for the sector as a whole and, most importantly, for students.’
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Lord Mandelson said: ‘The Open University has been at the forefront of the distance learning revolution for the last 40 years and I am pleased that they will receive further funding to enhance the important national role they play, working collaboratively across the sector’.
‘The potential of communications technologies to extend the reach of our universities is one of the most exciting aspects of higher education today. This is why there will be up to £20 million in matched funding for our universities to build on their successes ensuring we remain a world leader and become the first choice across the world for in e-learning.’
Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said: ‘The Open University is a unique national asset, providing educational opportunities for people of all ages from across the country to study. HEFCE’s funding will enable the university to take significant steps in promoting its expertise and resources to develop its national role in the higher education sector. I congratulate the university on its 40 years of achievements and look forward to its continued and enhanced role.’
Notes to editors
1. 2. The £20 million refers to the Open Learning Innovation fund announced on 23 June 2009.
.