Open University

Open  University

The Open a public distance learning and research university, and one of the biggest universities in the UK for undergraduate education. The majority of the undergraduate students are based throughout the United 

Kingdom and principally study off-campus; many of its courses both undergraduate and postgraduate can also be studied anywhere in the world.

 There is also a number of full-time postgraduate research students based on the 48-hectare university campus

 where they use the facilities for research, as well as more than 1000 members of academic and research staff and over 2500 administrative, operational and support staff.

The was established in 1969 and the first students enrolled in January 1971.The University administration is based at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes in , but has regional in each of its thirteen regions around the United Kingdom. It also has offices and regional examination in many other European countries. The university 

awards undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as non-degree qualifications such as diplomas and certificates or continuing education units.

 It was rated top university in England and Wales for student satisfaction in 201 United Kingdom government national student satisfaction survey, and second in the 2007 survey. Out of 132 universities and colleges, the was ranked 43rd

With more than 250,000 students enrolled, including around 32,000 aged under more than 50,000 overseas students, it is the largest academic institution in the United Kingdom 

and one of the largest in Europe by student number, and qualifies as one of the world's largest universities. Since it was founded, more than 1.5 million students have studied its courses

 in the Times Higher Education Table of Excellence in 2008, between the University of Reading and University of the Arts London; it was rated highly in Design, Art History, English, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Computer Science, Development Studies, Social Policy and Social Work and Sociology

practical issues, related to health promotion. Nevertheless, it is possible to be excused on the basis of ill-health or other extenuating circumstances and many courses have no mandatory face-to-face component.

 It was ranked overall as a nationally top forty, and globally top five hundred university by the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2011, as well as being ranked 247 for citations of its academics

Some modules have mandatory day schools. These are day-long sessions which a student must attend in order to pass the module. One example of such a module is the Advanced Certificate in Health Promotion which has two mandatory day schools/workshops, focusing on communication skills, counselling and 

Similarly, many modules have traditionally offered week-long summer schools offering an opportunity for students to remove themselves from the general distractions of their life and focus on their study for a short time.

Over the past ten years the university has adopted a policy of separating residential modules from distance-full-time taught modules. Exemption from attendance at residential schools, always as an Alternative Learning Experience  is sometimes available for disabled students and others who find it impossible to attend in person See "Qualifications-Undergraduate" section.

For many years the produced television and radio aimed at bringing learning to a wider audience. In its early years most of these were in the form of documentaries or filmed lectures. Latterly, most -associated programming was mainstream and broadcast in peak hours, including series such as Rough Science and 

"Battle of the Geeks", while older-style programming was carried in the BBC Learning Zone. In 2004 the announced it was to stop its late-night on , and the last was broadcast at on 16 December 2006. The now plans to focus on semi-academic television , such as many now broadcast on BBC Four.

The is researching the use of virtual worlds in teaching and learning, and has two main islands in Second Life. These islands are called Open University village. They are separated by a third region "Ocean." In May 2009 these regions formed the basis of a case Linden Lab, the company which owns Second Life.

Teaching at the has been rated as "excellent" by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. The English national survey of student satisfaction has twice put the Open University in first place.

In October 2006 the joined the Open educational resources movement with the launch of . A growing selection of current and past distance learning course materials will be released for free access, including downloadable versions for educators to modify under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA , plus free collaborative learning-support tools.

Open University modules have associated with them a number of Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme pending on the quantity of the material in the module to the complexity, with 120 points roughly equating to the year of study for a full-time student.

As of mid-2010, the university led the list of contributing universities in the number of downloads of its material from the educational resources site iTunes U, with downloads of over 20 million Open University continues to adopt as the Virtual Learning Environment with their own team deploying custom plugins

Students are generally advised not undertake more than 60 credits per year, meaning that an undergraduate degree will take typically 


six years to complete. With the exception of some degrees in fast moving areas such as computingthere is generally no limit on the time which a student may take. Students need special permission to take more than 120 points equivalent to full-time study at any time; such permission is not usually granted

The offers a large number of undergraduate qualifications, including certificates, diplomas, and bachelor's degrees, based on both level and quantity of study. An undergraduate degree requires 300 or 360 for CATS credits.

Originally the BA was the only undergraduate degree, and it was unnamed. The modern grants degrees of Bachelor of Art Science  and Engineering; the BA and may be named(following a specified or of courses chosen by the student degrees.

subject over a period of ten weeks, these are generally timed during vacations at conventional universities in order to take advantage of their facilities. Some science modules, which require only home study, are 

Many faculties have now introduced short modules worth ten credits. Most of these modules are taught online, and start at regular intervals throughout the year. They typically provide an introduction to a broader 

complemented by residential courses, in order to allow the student to gain practical laboratory experience in that field; typically, an award of degree or diploma will require completion of both.

October. Assessment is by both continual assessment with, normally, between four and eight assignments during the , for most, a final examination or, on some modules, a major 

Different modules are run at different times of the year, but, typically, a 30 or 60 credit module will run either from October to June or from February to 
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