1. The Open University UK in Europe
Professor Alan Tait
Pro Vice-Chancellor
The Open University UK
MESI Moscow, March 2012

2. 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.
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3. Outcome of OU Mission
• 250000 students
• Age range segments
• Range of Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral
students
• No obligatory educational qualifications on entry
for undergraduates
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4. Graduation Statistics
Total number of degrees awarded since 1971
First Degrees 329,067
Higher Degrees 52,697
Total number of graduates 381,764

5. Quality Standards
• National Student Survey: top 3 of all UK
universities
• Research Assessment Exercise: 42nd out of
160 universities
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6. 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
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7. Main Approaches to International
Teaching
• Direct teaching: OU qualifications
• Teaching through partnerships for OU
qualifications
• Validated teaching for OU qualifications
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8. 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
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9. 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
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10. 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
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11. 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
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12. 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

13. Beginnings in Europe
• Armed Forces in Germany and Cyprus
• Civil servants and their families in EU institutions
• First build in Benelux
• 1990-1993 Eurodesk project to build OU UK
throughout EU
• By 1993 in all EU countries, c. 5.500 students
• Administrative Co-ordinators
• Face to face tuition as student numbers permitted
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14. Student Numbers

15. Registered Students in Mainland Europe - 2012
41
Finland
60
Sweden
3
Estonia
10 Latvia
87
Denmark
8
Lithuania
431 35
Netherlands
371 1392
Belgium Germany
Poland
203 67 56
Luxembourg
Czech
Republic
270 34 18
Slovakia
421 780 27 Switzerland
Austria
Hungary
Romania
France Slovenia
419 18
56 519
Italy Bulgaria
(& Malta)
Portugal Spain
(& Gibraltar) 758
Greece
(& Cyprus)
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16. 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

17. 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
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18. 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
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19. 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

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

21. 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
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22. 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

23. Thank you!
Спасибо!
Alan Tait
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