Harriet Swain (‘This change will be the end of the Open University as we know it’, 20 October) is correct in pointing to digital learning as an opportunity for the OU, but missed an important point around the proposed closure of seven regional centres in England.
The OU is a national university, but I believe its strength lies in its experienced support staff coming from the same cities and regions as their students and tutors – they understand them and this knowledge is shared nationally.
New models of online support and curricula-focused support teams (I am academic lead for one such team) still need geography, for example, in areas such as outreach, employability and supporting students with disabilities. It really is too complex for a centrally based model based in Milton Keynes to do this as well.
Further, students are paying millions of pounds in fees and I personally believe the OU should return some of this by investing directly in the infrastructure of the cities and regions that pay for its very existence – many of which are bidding for devolutionary powers.
Dr Martin Higginson
Senior lecturer in economics, The Open University
• There have always been people at the OU’s HQ who have believed that things would be better if they did everything and if spotty tutors were dispensed with. The development of online learning has accentuated this tendency. Never before has it been suggested, though, that regional staff should be jettisoned as well.
The OU is not an online university. It regularly comes in the top three universities on student satisfaction and, as someone who advises prospective students and has tutored many hundreds, it is clear to me that one of the main reasons is their personal relationships with their tutors.
In its submission to the working group on location, the faculty of business and law advocated more decentralisation. Instead, the proposal was exactly the opposite – quite contrary to the spirit of the times and removing vital bridges between students, tutors and the university. The senate’s decision to reject the proposals is welcome, and it is to be hoped that the council does not slavishly follow its managers’ misguided proposals.
Dr Michael Dempsey
London
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