1. Supporting student transitions within a strategic partnership
Sally Crighton
Wendy Berndt

2. Overview
The Open University (OU) in Scotland is part of a strategic partnership with Glasgow Clyde College, Heriot Watt University (HWU) and Scottish Water.
This articulation partnership aims to assist professionals in the water industry to transition more readily from further education qualifications to Honours and Masters level.
Our presentation will describe our experience of setting up the partnership and discuss lessons learnt from the first cohort of students.

3. Setting up the partnership
The Open University was approached by Scottish Water to provide a bridging qualification from an HNC in Water Operations at Glasgow Clyde College to an MSc in Water and Environmental Management at Heriot-Watt University.
The project took two years from initial conception to launching in February 2015.
The first cohort of students began OU study in October 2015.

4. OU BA/BSc (Open) pathways
Students get credit transfer (90 points) for HNC qualification from college.
Begin their OU studies with mathematics modules, mandatory to comply with HWU MSc entrance requirements.
Then choose from a selection of Science, Technology and Management modules to complete a BA/BSc Honours Open degree.
Five alternative routes through the BA/BSc have been agreed with HWU to allow for different interests and specialisms.

5. The learning model
Standard OU distance learning model. Students are studying part-time, in their own time at a time to suit their individual needs.
They are in full-time employment at Scottish Water, come from various areas of the business and have a range of previous educational experience.
Although SW students are allocated to standard OU tutor groups alongside other students studying the same module, we are also delivering additional sessions to SW students in the workplace.

6. All have rich and varied stories to tell.
Student progress
Some of the first cohort of students have completed their first module of OU study and are almost finished their second.
All have rich and varied stories to tell.  

7. Our research with the first cohort
We are currently running a scholarship project with the first student cohort to collect these stories with a major aim being to understand how better to support our students in the transition from HNC to degree level study.
Felicity Bryers, Laura Howe and Andrew Potter, Associate Lecturers in Scotland, have carried out interviews to investigate the student experience of the transition from HNC to Open University study.

8. Student stories: What advice would you give colleagues?

9. Student stories: Support from the OU

10. Student stories: Support from Scottish Water

11. Initial findings
When multiple organisations are involved in a partnership, it can take quite some time from initial conception to registering the first cohort of students.
Some students are finding the mathematics modules more challenging than they anticipated.
An on-going challenge will be ensuring that, within the partnership, we retain, support and motivate our current students and continue to recruit more.

12. Benefits for students
Students are learning and earning at the same time.
The major benefit is that they can transition more readily from further education qualifications to Honours and Masters level.

13. Reference

14. Thank you very much for listening!
We welcome your questions and comments.

15. Contact details
Wendy Berndt & Sally Crighton .
The Open University in Scotland
10 Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh, EH3 7QJ.