The Open University UK in Europe Professor Alan Tait Pro Vice-Chancellor The Open University UK MESI Moscow, March 2012 1.
Post on 29-Dec-2015
216 Views
Preview:
Transcript
The Open University UK in Europe
Professor Alan Tait
Pro Vice-Chancellor
The Open University UKMESI Moscow, March 2012
1
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. 2
Outcome of OU Mission
• 250000 students
• Age range segments
• Range of Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral students
• No obligatory educational qualifications on entry for undergraduates
3
Graduation Statistics
Total number of degrees awarded since 1971
First Degrees 329,067
Higher Degrees 52,697
Total number of graduates 381,7644
Quality Standards
• National Student Survey: top 3 of all UK universities
• Research Assessment Exercise: 42nd out of 160 universities
5
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
6
Main Approaches to International Teaching
• Direct teaching: OU qualifications
• Teaching through partnerships for OU qualifications
• Validated teaching for OU qualifications
7
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
8
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
9
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
10
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
11
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 employment12
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 permitted13
Registered Students in Mainland Europe - 2012
Slovenia
87
41
1392
51956758
419
78027067
3108
183456
1827
431371
203
60
35
Portugal Spain(& Gibraltar)
421France
Italy (& Malta)
Greece (& Cyprus)
Bulgaria
RomaniaSwitzerland
AustriaHungary
Slovakia
CzechRepublic
GermanyPoland
Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
Denmark
Sweden
Finland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
15
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 rights16
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
17
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
18
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
La Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) Spain
• 200,000 total students
• 2134 outside Spain
• Mostly in Latin America
20
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
21
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 support22
top related