Be Excellent To Each Other

What's the general consensus on doing courses with them these days? I remember way back when it used to be considered that you didn't have a proper degree (although they were) if you did one with them. I've been looking at their Msc courses and they seem to be the most affordable to me, but how are they regarded by employers? Does anyone have any experience they could share?

The Open University is awesome. I can't speak for the public perception by employers, but I don't think they're too badly rated thesedays. It's a far cry from having to stay up til 2am to get content on BBC2.

The quality of the material though is excellent, and in my opinion far surpassed the quality of teaching I received at a 'proper' university. The textbooks are bespoke, there is supporting audio content and cd software, and coursework is well explained and straightforward.

Honestly I highly recommend them, if you can afford it. I've applied to do a couple of courses and had to drop out due to lack of time, but that shouldn't take anything away from the excellence of the thing.

Thanks CG, any experience is greatly received.

That sounds great, CG. Though I used to enjoy watching old Open University programmes from the 70's presented by men in tight brown trousers and wide ties, explaining the universe, or whatever it was that day. 2am insomnia watching, fantastic.

I took a Degree with the OU. It was much goodness. They had good support, and their software runs in Windows/Mac/Linux and everything. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Better than Brunel, worse than most "real" universities.

I'd imagine it depends on the course, and on the individual employer. Helpful as that isn't, I have a chum who studied counselling with them and loved it. I don't know what came of it, though. I also had a friend who studied history with them and adored it, and kept encouraging me to do the same. Only money prohibited me - it was that or leave london, and I can pick up a course later if I get a chance.

It certainly won't be useless. If you enjoy it and learn a lot, you'll get more than you have now and a positive experiece.

Alot of guys did OU degrees when I was in the RAF and they all spoke highly of them.

They were almost all doing engineering degrees (a few computing/mathematics) though, so I can't speak for their other faculties.

Getting off your arse and doing something is rarely useless in the eye of an employer

Alison finished her degree through the Open University, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. You two will have to have a long chat at the next car boot sale...

A colleague of mine got a PhD through them. It certainly wasn't viewed as second rate by any one at my current work place (A large number of which have PhDs), and it helped him get a job at much better place of work, so they obviously viewed it positively.

Cheers guys, I've just signed up to do my MSc!! Bit of confusion about when I need to pay though, if it is in six weeks time it ain't gonna happen!

Depends whether you opted to use the OUBSA account, which is very good.

Yeah, I think I'll have to. With it not starting till Nov, I just wasn 't expecting them to want payment in Aug. I'm sure I'll get it sorted though, thanks for your input guys.

Bit late to add this, but the OU is thought of highly in Astrophysics. It's one of the best places to do post-doc research (apart from the fact it based in Milton Keynes).

My mother did an OU degree in Maths + Comp Sci. I did one in the same from Nottingham Uni, which is regarded as fairly good as far as maths goes. The teaching / material seemed just as good for hers as mine, and I'd imagine it would be the same for other subjects as well. I very much doubt you'll be marked down by employers for doing it via the OU, and it probably has a better reputation then many universities.

What subject are you doing, GJ?

An OU degree shows a person has made a commitment to improve themselves and has the staying power to follow it through. Studying in your spare time isn't easy, and requires far more dedication than leaving school at 18 and going straight to uni.

If I was an employer, I'd respect an OU degree.

This is why I've only completed one course with them so far. My staying power for academic* work is very poor.



* and all other kinds of

MSc in Forensic Psychology and Criminology. I'm already quite looking forward to it.

I'm still more than happy for you to contribute your stories to the thread, they're making me feel more positive about it.

That sounds awesome. In my head you're going to be attaching electrodes to the skulls of criminals and making them run round mazes and giving them electric shocks.

That sounds like fun too!

And studying criminology as well!

sort of. It can show dedication from the person, surely, but one post-labor course just isn't as intensive and has as much hours as a "real" course. Our Engineering Guild (i think that's the name in english), doesn't recognize these courses so people graduated in them can't sign projects. Obviously i'm just mentioning my own country reality.

Anyway, i'm all for people having higher education and working to improve their skills, so good luck with it.

I've just applied for a history course with the OU. Assuming I get on it (and can afford it - likely, given the financial aid bit and my laughable income), I'll start in February. STUDY BUDDIES OMG

Yay, good luck Sinister, I hope you'll be joining us.

GJ, I'm guessing this is the course you're just finishing? What was your experience? I've been offered a new job and the only downside so far is that although they are happy to take over the sponsorship of my degree, I don't think they'll be able to release me from work to go to uni, or at least they won't be able to every week. I'm considering transferring my credits to the OU but I don't want to do that if it means ending up with a poorer degree and this is probably the only thing that's making me hesitate about accepting the job...

For what it's worth, Mrs B's second degree was done through the OU and she's always praised it highly for being very well put together and an excellent experience. How employers view an OU degree I genuinely don't know mind you, if that's a concern. If you've got any specific questions about how it works or whatever I'm happy to pass them on and get answers from her.

I think the OU stigma is gone in the main (apart from in the city where all the usual class bullshit still reigns), and the degree carries equal weight at the least.
I certainly don't think any less of an OU degree if I see it on an applicants CV, it's actually more likely for me to want to talk to them because of that.

My brother is in the army and doing an OU course at the same time. It seems highly structured and he always seems to enjoy doing the essays.

I really enjoyed it Gilly. It was stressful as I was working three jobs and seeing to the kids at the same time. Sometimes it felt a bit lonely after having attended uni for my degree (I was doing a Masters) but for the last few modules we've had closed Facebook groups set up which really helped. I think I struggled too because I wasn't using what I was learning, there was no one to have a conversation about it with.

Unfortunately my Masters isn't accredited by the British Psychological Society, so I need to find out what I can do about that (it didn't matter when I started), but I know that whether I have to do a conversion or a whole other masters it will be much easier this time around because I will be using what I learn.

Tldr; highly recommended, just check they meet any industry standard.

It is weird meeting with 2008 me.

Awful, isn't it? I think everything older than 12 months should be automatically 'archived'.