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Dear
I’m proud that The Open University in Scotland connects with people in every corner of the country from Dumfries and Galloway to the Shetland Islands. With over 20,000 students, we are the fourth largest university in Scotland.
We were delighted to welcome our latest cohort of new students in February. Registration for courses starting in October is also now open.
2022 marks 15 years since the launch of our free learning site, OpenLearn, which has broken-down barriers to education, with over a thousand courses and 15,000 hours of educational interactives, videos and articles. One million informal learners across Scotland visited the platform over the last two years as we experienced a surge in interest during the pandemic. Why not explore it for yourself!
Best wishes
Susan Stewart, Director, The Open University in Scotland
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Telling the stories of our students and the impact of their OU learning experience was a special focus for this year’s OU in Scotland Annual Review.
Twelve mini student stories included in the review highlighted the work that we do to provide opportunities to people from all parts of society and how we support people in work and enterprise to develop skills.
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Our free learning site OpenLearn recently celebrated a milestone, after clocking up 100 million visitors in the 15 years since it was launched.
In the last two years, over one million visits to OpenLearn came from Scotland, bolstered by a surge in traffic during the first COVID-19 lockdown.
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A new feature length documentary co-produced by the BBC, the OU and Melt the Fly productions, recently aired on BBC Scotland and is available on BBC iPlayer.
Long Live My Happy Head is the heart-warming story of Scottish comic artist, Gordon Shaw, who has been living with an incurable brain tumour for nine years.
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Community learning and development provides young people and adults with skills for life, learning and work.
An exciting new pilot project offers community learning and development (CLD) practitioners places on OU short courses with university credits, known as microcredential courses, fully-funded by the Scottish Government. Plus there is a new online portal with free online learning resources for the CLD workforce.
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Innovative courses, plus support and partnership opportunities, are available from the OU for the education sector.
There is a wide range of options on offer for learning, teaching and professional development.
This includes professional learning for practitioners across the sector, resources for school pupils, and collaborative partnerships and outreach.
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On World Social Work Day in March, the OU launched a new social work video and podcast. In the podcast ‘Solving social work skills challenges in Scotland’, a social worker from Fort William and a Practice Support Officer from Highland Council explore how the OU in Scotland is helping employers address challenges facing the social work profession.
The OU in Scotland’s Social Work Team is also looking forward to hosting Scotland's higher education sector-wide ‘Newly Qualified Social Workers Conference’ on 13 May.
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At the start of the year when the daylight hours are short, the weather is cold, and social interactions tend to be more limited, keeping motivated to study can be hard.
In a short blog, Ewe and Lidia from OU in Scotland’s Access, Participation & Success Team shared their experiences of studying with the OU and of building communities through Big Blether events.
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MSPs joined a drop-in event in the Scottish Parliament in February. The event gave MSPs the opportunity to meet with OU staff and find out how we have been supporting communities during the pandemic.
We also held a webinar with Scotland's leading public policy conference provider, Holyrood Events, exploring how Scotland can achieve inclusive economic recovery.
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A crater on Mercury named Nairne by Open University PhD researcher Annie Lennox is to feature on NASA’s official list.
Annie found the new crater during research to map the planet’s surface with an OU team.
As International Day of Women and Girls in Science was marked in February, Annie shared why 17th century Scottish poet and songwriter Lady Carolina Nairne was a naming inspiration.
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A new set of inspirational portraits - including Falkirk-based graduate Ali Salik - has been unveiled, to create an authentic portrayal of distance learning for Black and South Asian students.
The OU partnered with the world’s most diverse stock library, Alamy, to develop the collection.
Photographers have been encouraged to submit images for a legacy collection, available to other organisations.
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A graduate who gained two OU degrees while in prison, including a Master’s degree, tells how the OU gave him “an opportunity to turn my life around”.
An OU access course was the first step with the university when the student decided to engage with education, to try to turn a negative situation into a positive.
The now full-time worker shared his story.
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A Cyber Security postgraduate apprenticeship has celebrated 10 students graduating from across Scotland, the highest number since its launch in 2018.
The Master of Science in Cyber Security Graduate Apprenticeship provides on-the-job staff training in digital skills. Employees from the technology, financial and health sectors were among the recent graduates.
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Three Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have shared their experiences of studying with the OU, highlighting the study opportunities available.
Accessibility, funding and flexibility are among topics covered by Michael Matheson (Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport), Emma Roddick (MSP for the Highlands and Islands) and Liam Kerr (MSP for North East Scotland).
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The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302). The Open University is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to its secondary activity of credit broking.
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