The Open University was established as an independent and autonomous institution authorised to confer its own degrees and undertake professional training.

The superb contribution of the OUUK to the provision of VET in the UK is best understood by an analysis of these figures:

Year	Applications	Cumulative	Initial registration	Cumulative
1971	40,817		24,220	24,220
1972	34,222	75,039	20,501	44,721
1973	30,414	105,433	16,895	61,616
1974	34,017	139,470	14,976	76,592
1975	49,550	189,020	20,145	96,637
1976	51,450	240,470	17,159	113,796
1977	48,252	288,722	20,097	133,893
1978	42,833	331,555	21,000	154,893
1979	40,235	371,790	21,140	176,033
1980	45,125	419,444	19,448	195,481
1981	42,373	461,817	20,332	214,813
1982	45,667	507,484	25,311	241,124
1983	43,332	550,816	25,613	266,737
1984	41,495	592,311	21,591	288,328
1984	49,691	592,311	21,591	288,328
1985	49,691	642,002	19,366	307,694
1986	56,820	698,079	20,147	327,861
1987	56,336	814,235	25,041	375,318
1989	56,314	870,549	23,023	398,341
1990	54,852	925,401	24,240	422,581
1991	62,989	988,390	25,164	447,745
1992	68,109	1,056,499	27,608	475,353
1993	63,054	1,119,553	29,527	564,880
1994	67,467	1,187,020	33,612	538,492

These figures show that over 1,380,000 UK citizens have by 1997 actually applied for enrolment for a university degree at a distance at the Open University. As the OU does not accept applications from persons under 21, and as the enrolment figures drop down sharply after the age of 55 (even though the OU prides itself in its many degree students in their 70s and beyond), this is a remarkable percentage of a population of 55 million.

Its official status as a distance training provided has recently been described:

At the UKOU's inaugural ceremony in 1969, its first Chancellor expressed the aims of the University as being 'open as to people, open as to places, open as to methods, and, finally, open as to ideas'. Between that ceremony and the start of teaching in 1971, Britain had a change of government. Margaret Thatcher, the incoming Secretary of State for Education, had to defend the infant UKOU against colleagues in her party who would have strangled the project at birth. One of her arguments was that the UKOU had the potential to bring down the costs of higher education.

A quarter of a century later the UKOU can show considerable success in achieving the objectives set by its founders. Openness to people led to a 1995 student body numbering over 150,000 in degree credit courses and a further 60,000 working on non-assessed packs. Moreover, on almost any measure (e.g. gender, disability, ethnic origin, socio-economic background), the UKOU student body comes closer to reproducing the composition of the population at large than those of other UK universities.

In trying to be open to people the UKOU's most radical step was to remove all academic prerequisites for entry. In 1995 the proportion of new UKOU students without the conventional entry qualifications for UK universities was higher than ever. Each year this category accounts for one-third of the graduates of the UKOU, supporting Harold Wilson's conviction that, with proper teaching and support, access to success in higher education can be greatly expanded.

The Open University's Business School is one of the largest providers of management training in Europe. Courses can lead to a professional certificate, professional diploma or MBA.

The OU is a major provider of courses and study packs for people working in education. Qualifications include certificates and diplomas and an MA in Education. There is also a part-time Postgraduate Certificate in Education programme for people wanting to enter teaching as a career. The OU is also piloting the use of the Internet and other communicating tools to deliver courses direct to students wherever they live.

Two major developments are in languages and law. French and German courses are available and will be followed by Spanish, and from 1998 studies for a Qualifying Law degree will be available through a collaboration with the College of Law.

The OU brochure Studying with the Open University lists the courses in these groupings:

• Social science
• Health and Social Welfare
• Community Education
• Mathematics and Computing
• Postgraduate Computing and Manufacturing
• Technology
• Education
• Science
• Environment
• Management (Open Business School)

Certificates and Diplomas

BA and BSc degrees

Taught higher degrees

The University at present offers taught Master's degrees in Manufacturing: Management and Technology, Computing for Commerce and Industry, Management - an MBA and an MBA (Technology), Education and Mathematics. Details can be found under the appropriate subject headings.

Postgraduate Certificate in Education

Research

Other important statistics are: male 48%, female 52%

Students not qualified to enter another British university 34%

Students with disabilities 4.5% or over 7,000.

The OU publishes the following data about its finances and students fees:

Associate courses: This is more difficult to work out but a rough average would be £455.

Short courses: They could range from £600 for an education course to £1,000 for Certificate in Management Studies. An average figure may be £800.

Post graduate masters courses also vary a lot from £2,300 to £2,350 for an MBA. Based on information for other higher education establishments if might be reasonable to assume an average of £1,000.

It was put into perspective last week by the Education Correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, John Clare. In an article entitled Making the grade : the best universities and the rest, he divided Britain's universities into four divisions.

The First Division contains twenty-two universities. The OU now ranks number ten in that First Division.

Moreover, your learning has been judged excellent in Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Music. Back in the 1960s when the OU was being planned, many people said the OU wouldn't be able to teach these subjects at all. Today the official judgement is that we teach them excellently. Indeed, there is an even more striking statistic. If you count all the students in England studying these subjects in programmes that have been rated excellent, you will find that OU students are the majority. In other words, there are more students taking excellent-rated Music courses at the OU that in all other English universities put together.

Music and Earth Sciences happen to be subjects where we've achieved the highest quality ranking in research too. That's another remarkable story. Until 1992 the OU didn't get earmarked funds for research. Now we rank in the top third of universities by research income, and we climbed up a few more places in the table this year.

You all know that OUSA represents an increasingly large body of students overseas. More than 20,000 people are now taking OU courses in other countries - the equivalent of a fair-sized university in its own right. Outside Europe we serve these OU students through partnerships. The quality of those partnerships is crucial, for you also know that some maverick British institutions have been running programmes of dubious quality abroad, thereby damaging the reputation of all UK higher education.

The quality of the OU's partnerships was reviewed last year by the Higher Education Quality Council and received a very favourable assessment. Those partnerships are not all overseas. Soon after the government asked us to undertake initial teacher training it also asked the OU to carry on the function of the Council for National Academic Awards, the CNAA. OU Validation Services is now as big as a medium-sized university. In particular, it has dramatically increased the scale and scope of our Ph.D. programme and made the OU the leading awarding university for higher level vocational qualifications. The Higher Education Quality Council give this validation work a very clean bill of health too.

Courses are written by course teams. A first year course can have as many as twenty full-time OU or BBC staff assigned to it plus consultants. The course team designs a total learning package comprising printed materials, home experiment kits, BBC television programmes, audio and video cassettes, teaching strategies, and induction and training programmes for those who will tutor and counsel students enrolled in the course 3-10 years later.

Following early discussions on content and teaching strategies, responsibility for various parts or blocks of the course, and for script writing and kit composition is assigned to course authors. Several drafts of most materials are often produced, the later ones incorporating suggestions and criticisms made at meetings of the course team.

• the tutor-counsellor who follows the student throughout his/her university career;
• the tutor available for consultation on an individual course;
• thirteen regional offices providing a decentralised focus for the administration of tuition, counselling and student support systems ;
• a study centre within easy travelling distance where the student can meet others and use facilities.

The system of guidance and support in the UKOU has the following key features:

Pre-entry educational and vocational guidance: including diagnostic help, advice and information on a wide range of educational, practical and financial areas, and counselling to help prospective students make informed decisions about appropriate courses, qualifications and vocational options. The establishment of Enquiry and Admissions Services in all Regional Centres, staffed by professional advisers and skilled assistants, has been one of the major developments of the last 5 years in the Open University. In particular, people returning to learning after a gap - a very large proportion of OU students - need impartial advice and guidance on what to choose. The OU takes pride in its impartiality - its staff would never advise a prospective student to take one of our courses if they didn't feel it met their needs. Enquirers can discuss with our advisers their personal and vocational needs, the OU's study arrangements and range of courses, the level of study suitable for them, and any preparation that would help them. OU Enquiry Services produce guidance documents for prospective students and deal with thousands of queries every year, referring to other sources of advice or provision where appropriate.

Orientation into open learning methods: many OU students, even if they have recent experience of study, are unfamiliar with open learning methods. They will need guidance on these, so as to optimise the value gained from interactive texts, multi-media resources, tutorial and study groups and residential schools.

Basic preparation and development of study and learning skills and confidence: this is crucial for the growing number of students who enter the OU without the normal Higher Education entry qualifications as part of the OU's open entry policy, if they are to make academic progress. Helping students become independent learners is a key function of guidance and student support, and the OU offers a range of support through preparation and learning skills materials, packs, tutorials and workshops covering such areas as time management, essay writing, note-taking, examination techniques and numeracy.

Personal support for students throughout study: all students have access to tutorial, counselling and advisory staff with listening skills, empathy and expertise to help them deal with problems, clarify possible ways forward and make progress. The OU is a large and complex organisation and students must also have access to help with administrative difficulties.

Comprehensive educational and vocational guidance: this is needed if students' course choice and longer-term planning are to meet their often complex and changing requirements. Increasingly advice is needed on Credit Accumulation and Transfer and Vocational Qualifications. Over two-thirds of OU students have vocational reasons for studying, and the number of queries linking course and qualification choice with professional recognition and career planning is increasing. Such guidance needs to provide an accessible link to specialised services. On completion of a study programme, students need guidance on further study including higher degrees and professional qualifications.

Support for students with special requirements: in 1994 there were more than 5,000 disabled students following a course with the OU - more than in all other UK universities together. The OU offers an extensive support system for such students, and for those with other special requirements (such as examination anxiety, or geographical remoteness) based on the objective of enabling them to lead a full student life and to meet the University's academic requirements. Some of the features of this support are: audio-cassettes of brochures and course materials; talking calculators; information in large print; transcripts of television and radio broadcasts; personal induction loops; communication support at tutorials, day schools and residential schools; comb bound course units that open out flat to help with handling difficulties; residential study skills weekends for students with impaired sight or hearing; dyslexia support; assessment of Information Technology needs and loan of equipment; special examination facilities such as question papers in Braille or on cassette, extra time, an amanuensis and home examinations. This service continues to develop in line with new student populations and new technologies; as new requirements continue to be identified, new services are introduced. For example, language support initiatives are being piloted; and a new guide and staff development programme has been introduced for the support of the growing number of OU students who have mental health difficulties. In the area of technology, recent advances, some developed within the OU itself, have considerably enhanced the IT support available to disabled students.

Monitoring and support of student progress: the OU operates a student progress monitoring system based traditionally on the personal tutor and counsellor system, but increasingly in future likely to be supported through the implementation of a major new systems development, encompassing all student, tutor and counsellor records and providing the core information system for all staff; this will provide such information on-line and flexibly. The expectation is that this new system will enable the OU to intervene quickly with support where students are not making progress, and to plan and target its services more appropriately.

The challenges facings the UKOU arise from its success. Some are mirror images of the challenges facings the other mega-universities. Two examples are the production of courses by teams and the tutorial support system. Several other mega-universities are adopting these approaches because they lead to better courses and more successful students. However, the course team approach can be lengthy and expensive. One of the common criticisms of the UKOU made in the Funding Council's teaching assessment programme, even where it rated the UKOU's teaching in a discipline as excellent, was that courses took too long to produce and risked becoming dated during their lifetime. The tutorial support system is a key element in the UKOU's success. However, as we noted above, this system is difficult and costly to reproduce in other countries where the UKOU might like to operate.

The UKOU is eager to discover, in particular, whether the knowledge media can speed course production and provide tutorial support that is less geographically-bound. The University became famous for applying technology and media to higher education. Its intends to remain the leader in the field.

The most recent statistics paint the way to the future:

A Mega-University

Together with associate course students, those on professional updating courses and research degree students, 1996 saw a total of 210,000 student course registrations.

Undergraduate Students in 1996

Postgraduate Students

Finally, besides new initiatives in law and languages, there is a new focus on computing technologies and the knowledge media:

This year, 1997, some 30,000 Open University students have this equipment. That is about one fifth of the OU's 150,000 students, so this is still a minority, although numbers are growing fast. In nearly all cases the equipment that the 30,000 students have, allowed them to read and send text. Very few can receive or send audio or video through their personal computers even though, of course, it is now possible to circulate audio and video on the World Wide Web.

This means that if we want to use the full teaching advantages of multi-media technology we have to use them in a 'stand-alone' fashion, by providing students with CD-ROMs rather than making the material available on the Web. That, of course, poses another equipment problem, because not many OU students have high-performance CD-ROM players at home.

At the beginning of 1998 the OU will launch a new version of its first year science course. This course has made a large commitment to CD-ROM technology. Students will spend some 40 hours working with CD-ROM and we are very proud of the quality of those materials. However, because of the requirement to have a CD-ROM player the numbers of students registered in the course has dropped compared to this year. However, there will be about 3,000 students taking the course and we hope numbers will rise in subsequent years.