Celebrating 40 years of the Business School

OUBS celebrated its 40^th birthday with a week of special anniversary stories earlier in November. In the past four decades, OUBS has gained and retained the coveted 'triple crown' of accreditation (an accolade held by only 1% of business schools worldwide), partnered with the likes of the BBC and MoneySavingExpert to reach new learner audiences, and delivered transformative education to more than 100,000 students across more than 125 countries.

With student success at our heart, we are delighted that 86% of alumni say that their studies have helped them achieve positive things in their career. MBA alumna Celia Morris, who came from a low-income, working-class background and had little self-confidence, used her studies to turn her life around, succeeding in an international career serving more than 500 people. She said: “The MBA has changed my life. I would never have got where I am without the great opportunities that became available to me as a result of my OU Business School studies.”

The Head of OUBS, Prof Siv Vangen, reflected on some of these milestones and said: “What truly sets us apart is our inclusiveness. What makes us exceptional is our open access, our phenomenal reach and our continuing and increasing focus on social justice, sustainability, and equity. Milestones are worth marking and so we hope you will join us in celebrating 40 years of the OU Business School.”

What could be the key issues for businesses in the future?

As well as reflecting on the past, we asked our alumni what they thought might be some of the challenges and opportunities businesses face in the next 40 years.

We received some fascinating answers about areas that could affect the business landscape by 2063 such as artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, environmental challenges, customer service, staff retention and evolving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practices.

What it was like for the Class of ‘83

We asked some of the graduates who embarked on our very first module back in 1983, The Effective Manager, to share their memories. From hand-written assignments and submitting them in the post, to catching BBC2 tutorials on Sunday lunchtime, to course material on VHS cassettes, to dial-up internet representing an ‘unfair’ advantage, the ‘Class of 1983’ certainly highlighted how studying looked very different back then!

North Yorkshire’s first two cohorts of apprentice police officers graduate

The OU’s partnership with North Yorkshire Police has produced its first newly-qualified police officers. The first two Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) cohorts graduated at the Harrogate Convention Centre in October with all 29 having completed their studies with the OU while working full-time as police officers.

The blended programme has been collaboratively designed and delivered by the OU and North Yorkshire to meet one of the College for Policing’s routes into the profession of Police Constable.

Practice Tutor Fionn MacDonald said: “I enjoyed working with the enthusiastic student officers, watching them develop their potential and gain their well-earned degrees with the OU. I feel sure they will create a positive impact on the communities they serve – I wish them well.”

Read the full story here

Help for aspiring business owners

Six dynamic Entrepreneurs in Residence will be working with the Open University to help aspiring business owners.

The six business professionals bring a wealth of experience and expertise to support the OU’s Open Business Creators Fund programme, a ground-breaking entrepreneurship initiative that provides support to students and alumni across the UK’s four nations who are looking to grow their businesses and ideas.

By equipping participants with tools and resources, facilitating virtual events, and offering a mentorship programme, the initiative aims to cultivate a new generation of business creators. 

Find out more

Lack of skills is holding back ESG action, according to new report

Professor of Enterprise and Organisation Richard Blundel was one of the three experts consulted for a new report which revealed that many businesses are unprepared when it comes to environmental, social and governance (ESG) despite its importance.

The report explores business leaders’ attitudes and knowledge of ESG and barriers to adoption such as existing skills gaps within their organisations. It outlined three main recommendations to bridge this gap: to educate teams, measure impact and use the business platform to ‘speak out’ and influence others.

Richard, Director of the Centre for Social and Sustainable Enterprise (CSSE), who has more than 25 years’ experience of research on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), innovation and sustainable enterprise, said: “Small businesses of various kinds, from restaurants to heating engineers, can influence a large number of people at a local and personal level to make more sustainable choices.”

Read more

Develop new skills with an OU short course

Senior Lecturer in Marketing Dr Haider Ali (pictured) has extolled the virtues of short courses, particularly those written by the Business School. In this short video, Haider explains the benefits of shorter, flexible learning and is joined by a former learner, Julia Pennacchia, who needed to upskill quickly for a role in industry and completed one of these courses while on a gap year from a traditional brick university.

SHORT COURSE SPOTLIGHT: Business and Workplace Coaching

This month, we are featuring two courses that cover business coaching. The first, Introduction to Business and Workplace Coaching, is aimed at individuals with little or no coaching experience, but who have an interest in people, their development, wellbeing and performance. It will be highly valuable those in any industry who want to develop the skills and values of good coaching, including active listening, questioning, paraphrasing, building rapport and importantly reflective practice.

The second, Developing a Coaching Culture, aims to encourage managers to demonstrate their interest in developing people by using a coaching approach. This course requires some prior knowledge and experience of coaching and will be valuable to professionals or volunteers where supporting other people is important. You don’t need to be employed as a coach to benefit but you will need to have access to people you can practice the skills and behaviours covered in this course with.

For more information on all of our short courses click here.

PhD applications now open – deadline is end of January

The OU Business and Law Schools are now inviting applications for the next PhD programme beginning 1 October 2024. You will join the Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) which conducts research of the highest international standard that has economic, public, and social value consistent with the OU’s mission. You will work with subject specialists and have the opportunity to develop your skills in research communication, engagement, and impact.

In addition to welcoming self-funded full- and part-time students, we have a number of fully funded full-time studentships which cover tuition fees and a stipend (circa £18,622 per annum) for 36 months. The projects for these applications include social innovation to address climate change, modern capitalism and rising inequalities, and adaptive product development project planning to improve resilience.

The closing date for all applications is 31 January 2024.

For more details on the fully funded projects and how to apply, click here.

The power of quiet leadership: A case for a quieter approach

Tuesday 5 December 10:00 - 11:00, online

Leadership is often seen as a very extroverted activity, with many leadership courses promoting this idea by endeavouring to engage students in a range of extroverted activities. This extrovert ideal has led to some research reporting that 98% are average or above average on the extrovert scale: The power of quiet leadership - BBC Ideas

But a good deal of research indicates that those who tend to the more introverted side of things can bring a great deal to leadership positions.

In this free webinar, Professor of Public Leadership and Management Jacqueline Baxter discusses what quieter approaches to leadership can bring to the table, and how to encourage introverts to take up leadership roles.

Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers

This popular careers webinar introduced the psychology which sits behind the practice of coaching, and the reasons why coaching is effective. Presenter Kim Morgan, CEO of Barefoot Coaching Ltd, shared a few simple and easily applicable coaching techniques to help learners motivate, support and lead teams, and to develop their own range of leadership behaviours.

Find out more about the key skills of coaching, the impact of stress and the counteracting impact of attention and discover several effective (and easy to use) coaching tools to increase motivation, enable change and overcome barriers.