The Open University UK in Europe Professor Alan Tait Pro Vice-Chancellor The Open University UK MESI Moscow, March

Open University Mission The Open University is open to people, places, methods and ideas. It promotes educational opportunity and social justice by providing high quality university education to all who wish to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential. Through academic research, pedagogic innovation and collaborative partnership it seeks to be a world leader in the design, content and delivery of supported open and distance learning. 2

Outcome of OU Mission students Age range segments Range of Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral students No obligatory educational qualifications on entry for undergraduates 3

Graduation Statistics Total number of degrees awarded since 1971 First Degrees329,067 Higher Degrees52,697 Total number of graduates381,764 4

Quality Standards National Student Survey: top 3 of all UK universities Research Assessment Exercise: 42 nd out of 160 universities 5

Distance Education and the Internationalisation of Education Distance education has courses in material form that can move across frontiers Digital world makes that easier Demands outstrips supply of Higher Education on global basis On-line world makes study across borders more acceptable 6

Main Approaches to International Teaching Direct teaching: OU qualifications Teaching through partnerships for OU qualifications Validated teaching for OU qualifications 7

The Context of Europe The European Union project Freedom of movement of labour and capital 27 member countries, 500m inhabitants and 23 main languages 51% claim understanding of English Education not EU level responsibility But role of Higher Education as training in support of labour market 8

Higher Education Qualifications in Europe Bologna framework for HE from 1999 The ‘Higher Education area’ in Europe To support mobility of labour To create regional HE achievement in global competition, especially USA and Asia 9

Bologna Aims To make it easier to move from one country to another To attract talent from outside the EU To support knowledge and research base in Europe 10

Bologna: Concrete Initiatives Common qualifications framework of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral levels First Bachelors degree of 3 year cycle ECTS: European Credit Transfer system European dimension to Quality Assurance 11

Higher Education in Europe: Some Issues Fees: no UK government subsidy for OU outside UK Fees culture in HE in Europe variable Quality of teaching in European HE variable Reputation of OU UK, and of distance education HE national legislation and employment 12

Beginnings in Europe Armed Forces in Germany and Cyprus Civil servants and their families in EU institutions First build in Benelux Eurodesk project to build OU UK throughout EU By 1993 in all EU countries, c students Administrative Co-ordinators Face to face tuition as student numbers permitted 13

Student Numbers 14

Registered Students in Mainland Europe Slovenia Portugal Spain (& Gibraltar) 421 France Italy (& Malta) Greece (& Cyprus) Bulgaria Romania Switzerland Austria Hungary Slovakia Czech Republic Germany Poland Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg Denmark Sweden Finland Estonia Latvia Lithuania 15

Open University in Europe Relevance of curriculum From Social Sciences to Mathematics Central has been Management and Business Studies Internationalisation of faculty Quality of service to students Direct services versus partnerships Employment issues and consumer rights 16

European Audiences Expatriates and their families English speaking international communities, e.g. Geneva and UN organisations Local communities, e.g. Greece MBA, e.g. in Germany 17

OU and Russia From 1991 OU partnership with LINK in Moscow 2012 c. 3,200 students on Certificates and Diplomas in Management, and MBAs Licensed teaching and directly taught In Russian and English 18

Another Example: the FernUniversität, Germany Expansion to other German speaking countries, Austria, Switzerland Hungary Partnership working outside own ‘Land’ 80,000 total students 6071 students, including 86 in Russia with study centre in Smolensk 19

La Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) Spain 200,000 total students 2134 outside Spain Mostly in Latin America 20

More Widely…. Significant offering of on-line programmes internationally in English Most popular programmes in professional areas, e.g. Business and Management, Computing, Health etc For profit and sometimes only for profit Globally demand for Higher Education outstrips supply 21

Summary: Essential Issues Distance education works across frontiers Common language or translation Higher education cultures Recognition of qualifications Brand in crowded landscape of providers Governmental permission and regulation Legal compliance is key Quality student service and support 22

Thank you! Спасибо! Alan Tait 23