The OU – a love letter

Now that I have finally, finally left the Open University (I know, it’s been like the end of Lord of the Rings, with about 20 times you think “This is the endpoint, right?”), I thought I’d say some nice things about it as an institution. Beyond a couple of people and a handful of dogs, the Open University has been the great love of my life. Now, don’t misunderstand me – it has its fair share (maybe even more than most) of obstructive bureaucracy, frustrating processes and toxic staff, which I’ve experienced more than I would wish, so this is not a piece of blind propaganda. But I want to celebrate the best of it, having spent the bulk of my adult life working there.

Firstly, its very existence is a wonder. Like Wikipedia, you feel that it shouldn’t really exist or function as well as it does. It is inconceivable to me that if we didn’t already have it, any modern Government would have the vision and desire to push it through to creation. You can imagine the backlash the right wing press would create at the idea, the headlines of Mickey Mouse university, the indignation at a non-campus based approach to higher education. The arguments about how it would serve industry, who would fund it, why should people be allowed to study this way. Or worse, they would establish it in partnership with a commercial offering, the Microsoft Open University, which would quickly be directed away from any non-vocational subjects. It would, in short, be a clusterfuck. They’d probably invest billions and then it would become mired in competing directions from different stakeholders, like an educational HS2, unloved and waiting for somebody to take it over.

Instead it is a national treasure. The innovation of open entry (ie you do not need A levels or other qualifications to enter higher education) remains, I think, the most impactful interpretation of the many different forms of open education. For all of the “levelling up” and “social mobility” agendas we have had over the past couple of decades, there is no single policy that has such a direct and demonstrable impact as open entry combined with flexible study. While other institutions have moved into the mature students space, it remains the dominant “Second Chance University”.

This social justice mission also means that many of the people I have worked with over the years are from diverse backgrounds. Many colleagues have themselves come into higher ed through the OU, or from industry. I don’t know the data, but my guess would be that the OU has a higher proportion of first-in-family to attend university as staff members than most HEIs. This makes working there pretty collegial and pleasurable on the whole – a lot of that inherent hierarchy and snobbery you still encounter in much of higher ed is absent (well, mostly anyway).

Various funding policies and performance metrics have not always treated the OU well, and it is still a constant battle to remind policy makers that not all of higher education resembles their own Russell Group experience. Politicians, the media and society in general need to act responsibly with regards to the OU, and recognise it for the treasure that it remains. Because I fear that if they were careless it could disappear with a callous shrug, and we’d never get it back. Only then would we appreciate the full value it offers.

My identity has long been allied with the OU, I am, in my own head at least, “Martin from the OU”. I used to feel anxiety and anguish about its troubles, the same way you do about a close family member going through a tough time. I have Emeritus status now, so I remain allied to it to an extent, but I am on the outside, so I feel that connection less. This is necessary as I establish a new identity, but I’d still fight a duel with textbooks at sunrise to protect its honour. As Joan Didion puts it “You have to pick the places you don’t walk away from” and the OU is as good a place as any.

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