Dr Petrina Stevens is the alumni representative on OU Senate. Here she reports on the issues which will be covered in the next Senate meeting – student recruitment, student progression and The Browne Review - and asks for your views...
Below are the main issues which will be covered in the next Senate meeting on Wednesday 26 January, issues which could affect us all. If you have any comments ahead of the meeting I’d really like to hear from you. You can email your views to me at alumni@open.ac.uk with the subject header ‘senate questions’. Apologies for the short notice, but the deadline is 12pm Tuesday 25 January.
Student recruitment
Undergraduate recruitment is good, being eight per cent higher than the target. However, postgraduate recruitment is a concern. I would be interested to know from those of you who have graduated, why this may be so, and what would tempt you back into, or deter you from postgraduate study. It may be the financial costs, study time or a range of issues. How do you feel the OU could help encourage and/or facilitate your return to study?
Student progression
Although the number of new students is promising, there is a concern that students do not necessarily move on to their second course and withdraw early. You may have ideas as to the reasons for this and how this issue may be addressed.
The Browne Review
There will, of course, be unintended consequences from any change, and the Government response to The Browne Review is no exception. The necessary fees increase will impact on the OU, especially as the £60 million funding for the University’s widening participation programme has not been confirmed in detail. Currently 30 per cent of students receive grant funding towards fees, most of which would be retracted. We are not sure of the level of fee increase, but it could severely affect student intake and especially the decision of alumni members to continue with further study.
The University is looking at new income streams and ways of developing current income streams. Perhaps alumni members will have views on how income can be generated to help fund students and keep fees at an affordable level?
I will give you feedback on these and other issues arising in Senate and hope in the future to be able to contact you earlier to give you reasonable time to respond.