Graduate Jobs, is it worth applying ?????

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

melancholly wrote: »

Erm.... really? A lot of tutors for the OU actually come in from other unis. Don't get me wrong, the OU is great in many ways, but I think that's a statement that's impossible to substantiate. For a start, they didn't enter into the Times League tables this year and the 2008 RAE indicates that they only entered just over half their staff and certainly were no-where near the top 25!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/table/2008/dec/18/rae-2008-results-uk-universities

I'm all for interesting debates, but I also like to see facts rather than pure speculation!

They don't feature in the table because the style of learning is different - as it is modular and non discriminatory, drop out figures don't apply, nor do entry requirements or facilities spend, for example.

However the QA research ratings were recorded and compared directly to Oxford's.

Oxford's average quality of research was rated at 3.5, equal first with Cambridge and the LSE. The OU's average quality of research rating is given as 3.7.

No debate needed. Just pure, hard fact.

I got my information - not speculation - from the source, the Complete University Guide, as stated in my prior post. Not the Grauniad.

Rosie75

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

They don't feature in the table because the style of learning is different - as it is modular and non discriminatory, drop out figures don't apply, nor do entry requirements or facilities spend, for example.

However the QA research ratings were recorded and compared directly to Oxford's.

Oxford's average quality of research was rated at 3.5, equal first with Cambridge and the LSE. The OU's average quality of research rating is given as 3.7.

No debate needed. Just pure, hard fact.

I got my information - not speculation - from the source, the Complete University Guide, as stated in my prior post. Not the Grauniad.

The QAA (I assume this is what you mean?) doesn't audit research, it's an institutional audit, and focuses on the quality of management and teaching. The OU is, undeniably, excellent on the teaching front. Research is audited by the Research Assessment Exercise - Melancholly's link to the Guardian simply presents the RAE data, it has nothing to do with any bias you might perceive from that newspaper. The same information can be found on the RAE website http://www.rae.ac.uk/.

The only thing the Complete University Guide says about the OU's research is

"Research standards

• The OU supports a vibrant research and enterprise portfolio which focuses upon key issues affecting the social, political and physical well-being of individuals, communities, cultures and nations."

As far as I can see, there is no direct comparison with Oxbridge (which itself is not always at the top of the research league tables in many subjects).

melancholly

seriously - the RAE is what determines government funding for research based on research quality. lots of us don't really think it's the best way to look at things and it's certainly not without flaws, but it is the way research is rated. i went for the Guardian site since it's just easier to navigate than the official one - but i'd suggest that if you think the data is biased by the newspaper, that you don't really know what it is..... anyway, without links, hard to judge what the QA ratings really are and what that means. i know within the academic sector which unis are thought of as top for research! the OU is fantastic is many ways, but, like very uni, has strengths and weaknesses. there's no need to try to overplay their research hand.

The_One_Who

The OU has some excellent academics, some of the top of their field, but then so do other universities. Getting a good RAE score is as much as about fiddling the stats as it is about having the best research. 'Good' research is also a very, very, wooly term. I can think of a very good example from within my own discipline which is seen as core to the entire foundation, yet was not considered 'good'. RAE has now been replaced by the worse (in my opinion) REF, and so universities are now trying to work towards that.

Either way, what makes something 'good' for you will be different for everyone. Cambridge has the 'best' department going by things like the RAE, but does not have a single academic who I could work with.