Farewell
Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of the Open University, has announced that he will be leaving at the end of the year to take up a post at RMIT, Australia’s largest tertiary educator. He’s been at the helm...
View ArticleWill David Willetts become the next OU vice-chancellor?
Just under a week ago Martin Bean, the current OU vice-chancellor, announced that he was going to step down from his £407,000 post at the end of this year to return to Australia. Today David Willetts,...
View ArticleWhile the cat’s away …
… student life carries on much as normal for those of us who are on distance learning courses. This weekend I managed to submit the first Psychology of Organising assignment on time, and I’m now...
View ArticleShould I go to Glasgow for the DOP conference in January?
I’ve really been enjoying the Commonwealth Games over the last few days, even though my view of them has been from my armchair at home, supplemented by a few quick, surreptitious glances at the BBC...
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No-one is ever ready for double maths
… so single maths, physics and chemistry (plus electronics and general studies for good measure) it was. To answer all of your other burning questions: I did return the slip to Mr Champion’s office...
View ArticleLifelong learning – where are we now?
As an avid fan of this blog (because why would you be here otherwise?!), I’m sure you’d love to read the series of articles that I’m writing about the challenges and opportunities for lifelong...
View ArticleAutumn statement analysis: the impact of postgraduate loans
It’s interesting to see that the postgraduate loan scheme announced in the autumn statement is now starting to attract some coverage. The IFS has published some analysis today, which seems to suggest...
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UCAS reports record numbers placed at UK universities and colleges in 2014
Some highlights from their press release and report issued on 19th December: 512,400 students were accepted onto full-time courses, of which 447,500 were domiciled in the UK. Both of these figures are...
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OU student numbers decline by a further 10.3% in 2013/14
The latest statistical first release from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) was made on 15th January. New part-time enrolments (often, but not always, mature students) have fallen by 8%...
View ArticleThe US government “gets” lifelong learning – so why don’t our politicians?
After I wrote about the fall in OU student numbers for a fourth consecutive year last Saturday, I decided to see if I could get a reaction from the five largest (by membership) UK-wide political...
View ArticleLifelong learning = political tumbleweed
Having failed to engage any of the five political parties through twitter on the subject of lifelong learning and what their policies might be, the next stage of my quest has led me onto their websites...
View ArticleManifesto promises about adult education and lifelong learning
With the main political party manifestos having been published and now available on their websites(*), I’ve read them all, cover to cover, in an attempt to discover their adult education and lifelong...
View ArticleThis is not hello
In August last year I wrote a blog post for the University of Leicester with the title “This is not goodbye“. In it I talked about my initial lymphoma diagnosis (the post was written before I’d had the...
View ArticleWhy #PartTimeMatters
A copy of the 2015 edition of the Open University’s magazine “OpenMinds – for enquiring alumni” was waiting for me when I arrived home this evening. There’s some great content in it – for example,...
View ArticleMind your language
I mentioned in my last post that I was knee deep in reading for my dissertation proposal. I’m still knee deep, but the ideas are starting to become a little better formed now. One thing I can...
View ArticleThe continued resurgence of computer science?
There was some encouraging news for the IT industry in the data released by UCAS today. The number of students accepting places on computer science courses at university has increased by 12% compared...
View ArticleOn not boiling the ocean
Over the weekend my studies reminded me of a photograph I took last year. It shows two families of elephants trying to cross the Chobe river from Botswana to Namibia. Unfortunately the groups became...
View ArticleWhat have the psychologists ever done for us?
There’s a wonderfully thought-provoking piece that’s been published on The British Psychological Society’s website in the last few days called “Where is psychology’s non-stick frying pan?“. I’d...
View Article5 things you used to need to survive university
One of the posts that I most enjoyed reading last month was written by Lois, called 5 Things You Actually Need to Survive University. Her advice seems sound to me, so if you’re looking for things that...
View ArticleWhy distance learning is like a spider building a web
I’m currently working through the fifth of my modules on the occupational psychology masters – on training and development. It therefore seems appropriate to write about the way I’m thinking about my...
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