OU degree - recognised by employers or not really?

KiKi

grumpyoldwoman41 wrote: »

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

If you want to do it for yourself, I can HIGHLY recommend it. I started studying with them last year, just thought I'd do one course. I took up my second course this year with glee and will get a Diploma for the combination of the two. I'm looking at something wacky next year like Oceanography or Astrophysics.

I often find people either love or hate this way of learning. And if you love it then it's highly addictive!

They're also VERY good on administration, something which I find most standard universities or education providers to be appalling at.

KiKi

wantsajob

KiKi wrote: »

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.

All true but one graduate is one of many, and my point was it only takes one bad, or good, one to leave a lasting impression on an employer - which at the end of the day is what matters. I was not drawing any general conclusions, merely mentioning one case I know of. Had I known of an OU graduate who was up to speed then I would have said that instead

**curlywurly** wrote: »

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.

My Psychology degree was also more like the latter. In fact I recall the tutor I mentioned above explicitly asking students to write essays with recent research, saying he did not want to see any mention of old classic research (the type of stuff you would see repeated ad-nauseum in various text books). There were of course some recommended texts for each module, but in general they were considered an introduction (pretty much like the lectures were) and you had to go search and read journals etc, and you would not get a first just with the text book.

Perhaps you misheard and the essays did involve reading recent research, *after* reading the text book? But if your colleague's course *was* like you say and I was an employer looking for a research assistant to do some work involving literature reviewing, I would not employ them as I doubt they had sufficient practice of the required skills.

KiKi wrote: »

Everything's online - the course materials, the forums, the library - everything! You can do the bare minimum - but you won't pass the exams!

TBH you don't really need access to libraries much of the time - the real stickler is when there's a journal article you *really* want but it is not available online, although I guess this is happening less and less as time moves on. I would hope being an OU student provides you with online access to all appropriate journals etc. I imagine if desired you would also be able to get a visitors card for libraries at normal universities as an OU student? I got one for one University closer to where I lived when I was a student at another. They also had a much wider range of journals on the shelves which I found particularly useful.

grumpyoldwoman41

Oh will look deeper int it then.. intersted in Maths, Stats, Spanish and few more... LOL

May combine into "Open" degree and have fun along the way

Thanks for posting

KiKi

wantsajob wrote: »

All true but one graduate is one of many, and my point was it only takes one bad, or good, one to leave a lasting impression on an employer - which at the end of the day is what matters.

Oh, absolutely - it obviously left an impression with you!

I imagine if desired you would also be able to get a visitors card for libraries at normal universities as an OU student? I got one for one University closer to where I lived when I was a student at another. They also had a much wider range of journals on the shelves which I found particularly useful.

Yes, everything's online that you need, but that lack of contact means that by necessity you need written guidance in the form of study guides and books to lead you through the course. And yes, we have access to uni libraries but, of course, that requires you to be near one! I can't say I've used it. But then I'm studying a creative topic, so I can research how I like rather than needing to look at a specific journal or theory.

The way things are going, though - just as a thought - it's going to be cheaper to do an OU degree than to study at a uni for three years. Actually, that IS a thought! I wonder how many would-be students will start thinking of working part-time for 6 years and studying for six years so that they have a degree and finish with possibly no debt?!

Now there's a reason to study!

KiKi

grumpyoldwoman41

Well, talking about studying part time or via distance learning there is also London External:

http://www.londoninternational.ac.uk/

and Birkbeck

https://www.bbk.ac.uk

Both under University of London so with great reputation....

Wonder how do the 3 compare really...

With BBK it is quite hard as one has to attend lectures 3 evenings per week (6-9pm) and after all day work this is tough. Additionally of course self study of minimum 12 hours per week.

London External is distance learning only, just going for exams.

Hmmmm

Rowan9

I did my degree then a Masters with OU which I could do while working. I worked in education and OU was respected. Thoroughly recommend studying with them. Good support and a good online forum which helps you 'meet' other people doing the course.
W

ceridwen

KiKi wrote: »

The way things are going, though - just as a thought - it's going to be cheaper to do an OU degree than to study at a uni for three years. Actually, that IS a thought! I wonder how many would-be students will start thinking of working part-time for 6 years and studying for six years so that they have a degree and finish with possibly no debt?!

Now there's a reason to study!

KiKi

Actually - I have thought that would become the case. It will certainly make financial sense to do it that way.

I think some way needs to be thought out in fact that people CAN do it that way and still get the advantages of going to University ITRW (as in able to get as involved in student life as those physically going to University IYSWIM). Time will be a problem to those who are having to do an O.U. course on top of a full-time job. Money will be a problem to those who are unemployed and don't have wealthy/generous parents. So I can't quite work out what would be a suitable amalgam of all factors to enable a sizeable group of people to both study at O.U. AND be tied-up in a full-time job OR tied-down to benefit level income and the "having to be available for work" criteria set by the Jobcentre.

Becles

I've just graduated from the OU with a BA Honours in Business Studies after studying for four years. It wasn't easy juggling work, family etc., but I'm pleased I did it and hope an employer would understand what a challenge it was.

Here's how I did it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10u9uepSHfXa6yWyFXQto0tJN-ky3_J8sNHziYxllHxk/edit?hl=en&authkey=CMHAqLEG#

gemini12

I have an OU BA and was part way through a BSc when ill health took over and I would thoroughly reccomend it. It is far more recognised by employers than it used to be and anyway no learning is ever wasted.

The best thing Harold Wilson ever did.

heretolearn_2

My experience has been that prospective employers have been very impressed by my OU studies. I haven't finished my degree yet but it's on my CV and gets commented on by interviewers. So far they've all been positive and given me the thumbs up for having the energy/commitment to do well at this while working. OU scores very highly against other unis. 25% of all MBA students in the UK are doing it through the OU for example. You'll find a few ignorant people who think it's just watching a few tv programmes or reading a few books (I think the philosophy degree holder was winding up the person who posted above), but you can encounter ignorance about anything.

One thing though 'May combine into "Open" degree and have fun along the way'. This isn't a good idea if you want to use the degree for your career/advancement. The Open degrees are not available at honours level, and frankly I don't think an open degree is that well respected. Better to have a History BA, or a Maths BSc, than an 'open' degree with a mishmash of different subjects you have to then list out on your CV. You can do a named degree and do one 'free choice' course that isn't necessarily related to the rest. I'm doing creative writing at the moment as part of an English degree there, but we've got a lot of refugees from Law, Science and Maths degrees who just fancy having a breather for a year. It can still count towards their degree.