OU degree - recognised by employers or not really?

grumpyoldwoman41

Hi all,

Looking at OU website and wondering - are the OU degrees recognised by employers at the same level as "normal" degrees?

I know it says "yes" on their website but what are your own experiences?

I have done a course with them ages ago and found it quite boring actually but perhaps things have changed?

I am looking at Mathematics/Statistics at the moment.

Any past/current OU students on here?

Thanks

Googlewhacker

If I employed someone and they got a 2.1 or greater via OU I'd probably be more impressed with them than someone that has just finished uni because you have to show want and dedication to do it via the OU whereas Uni you could just go there to go there!

wornoutmumoftwo

I'm a current OU student doing childhood and youth studies, which is a recognised degree by the teaching university I want to go to, so that's what I'm working towards. As the previous poster said, I've heard OU degrees are highly valued as they are done while holding down jobs/raising families.

Pound

Unless the employer has some sort of misconception that OU degrees don't equip its graduates with the skills and knowledge that a degree should provide then they would have no problem taking it seriously. In some respects OU is considered one of the better universities so may impress an employer more than a degree from some brick-and-mortars.

Oldernotwiser

OU degrees are well thought of generally, they're considered to be in the top 10 universities for teaching standards.

wantsajob

I was doing a masters in Psychology at one of the top Universities for the subject in the UK. A fellow student had done their degree with the OU and struggled somewhat, in particular with the statistics and SPSS, and dropped out after a few months. To me that suggests that the skills the OU course imparted did not quite match up to the degree course I did at an ex poly.

Edit: I say this as some people would say an ex-poly University degree is worthless. It could be that he selected a course which did not include these or that the course was not BPS approved like the one I took. Also I am sure employers will go by previous experience and if they find employees from OU a bit "iffy" then that will be their decision made.

Then again one of the best most engaging lecturers at my Undergraduate University, left to work for the OU http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/people-profile.php?name=Darren_Langdridge

KiKi

wantsajob wrote: »

I was doing a masters in Psychology at one of the top Universities for the subject in the UK. A fellow student had done their degree with the OU and struggled somewhat, in particular with the statistics and SPSS, and dropped out after a few months. To me that suggests that the skills the OU course imparted did not quite match up to the degree course I did at an ex poly.

I don't think you can compare standards of two universities based upon your knowledge of one person! And as a graduate and post-graduate of psychology I'm surprised you make that conclusion so comfortably!

It may well be that he struggled for other personal reasons, or that he barely passed his OU degree. He may have done well in most aspects of his degree, but struggled with statistics. The university at which you were doing the Masters may have accepted him knowing he hadn't completed some modules or areas on the understanding that he said he would catch up.

My point is that there could be any number of reasons he dropped out. It may have been the OU teaching. It may have been the one OU tutor and nothing to do with the actual course. Or it could have been a host of things.

OP, I did my degree and post-grad at red brick unis, and am now studying for a diploma with the OU. As an employer I would make no distinction between the two. What the OU study would tell me is that someone has mostly likely done it in their own time, whilst working, and possibly whilst bringing up a family. It demonstrates commitment because you have to keep going over a period of around 6 years to get there. I personally find motivation on the OU course much harder than when I attended uni full time as I was just 'there' - you have to get on and do because it's your life for three years. HTH

KiKi

**curlywurly**

It depends on the job you want and the type of degree. I was shocked that a colleague of mine got a 1st in Psychology from the OU by reading a few books, sending in an essay every three months and taking a few exams. Now I don't have a degree in pscychology myself, but when I did my degree at university, we weren't given a book to read and then "read this chapter of this book, answer this question, the answer's in the book" ... we were shown into the library and we had to research it ourselves. We also had to produce a lot more essays than one a month.

That said, I take my hat off to anyone who can hold down a full-time job and study at the same time. Not just because it's difficult to find the time, but also the motivation and support from the students around you.

yer_maw

OU is a respected institution and anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about.

grumpyoldwoman41

yer_maw wrote: »

OU is a respected institution and anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about.

Well then there is a lot of people who do not know what they are talking about as speaking to people I always hear that OU degree is not being takes seariously really - so I thought I would ask here.

I am looking at Maths and Stats purely out of interests, would do it just for myself, not for work/prospective work.

Thanks for all the replies, nice to see people are in favour of studying

KiKi

**curlywurly** wrote: »

It depends on the job you want and the type of degree. I was shocked that a colleague of mine got a 1st in Psychology from the OU by reading a few books, sending in an essay every three months and taking a few exams. Now I don't have a degree in pscychology myself, but when I did my degree at university, we weren't given a book to read and then "read this chapter of this book, answer this question, the answer's in the book" ... we were shown into the library and we had to research it ourselves. We also had to produce a lot more essays than one a month.

Don't forget, though, that's it's distance learning. You don't have the tutor contact or lessons or lectures in the same way, so by necessity you have to be given books to guide you through - in addition to your own research. How on earth would you know what to study every week otherwise? The essays may have been far longer every three months than the ones you did every month! In addition, an OU uni degree takes longer than a standard uni degree as it's undertaken in modules, so what your friend did in a year may have equated to what you did in 4 months.

I personally have done more essays in my OU Diploma of 2 years than I did in a year of my English Degree! I did 7 essays a year in my English Degree; I do 6 a year in my OU Diploma which is part-time at 12 hours a week.

I'm not saying either's better, I'm just pointing out that it's a completely different way of learning. I think you are hand-held much more through uni than at the OU where it's totally self-driven. Yes, I have books to work through, but I don't get people to chat with, I don't go to lectures, I don't get tutorials etc. Everything's online - the course materials, the forums, the library - everything! You can do the bare minimum - but you won't pass the exams!

KiKi