Open University, anyone?

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:09 pm

Has anybody ever tried an Open University, or gotten a degree from one of them?

I'm at a crossroad at the moment, on one hand "regular" universities don't really have entry qualifications on my level [speaking for the UK at the moment, I'd be laughing if we were talking about Greek ones], and since I finished high school around 8 years ago, I can't really go back to do better. I could search quite a bit harder to find some cracks through the seams in the UK higher education system, but will probably end up with a fifth tier university.

On the other hand, for pretty much the same money, Open university needs no qualifications, you (mostly) study at your leisure...only drawback is that it takes longer [4 to 6 years instead of 3] and as my brother in law says, you don't have any of the interaction with staff and students a regular university student has.

Any takes on this? For once I'd love working in any job [like I used to] while at the same time studying for a degree without the need to commute or dedicate entire mornings/afternoon periods.

Has anybody, UK or abroad, studied at one?

--For the record, UK Open Uni is easily accessible to anybody, while for the Greek Open Uni there's very limited "space" and you have to wrestle for a spot with thousands of other applicants. Twice I tried it, both times they had about 7 thousand people in reserve that needed to drop out/cancel before I could get in.

Post by **Denyer** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:22 pm

My ex did various correspondence type courses, and AFAIK still speaks highly of the OU. I don't think all of the courses are that long (IIRC modules can be done concurrently and build into a degree-level qualification) but the option to do things on a schedule that suits the student has to be a plus.

Actually, I think they do some vocational stuff as well as pure academic subjects.

Summerhayes · Post by **Summerhayes** » Sat Jul 06, 2013 1:34 am

I have actually just recently signed up for my course with the OU. I start in October!
My mum did a Maths degree with them and had nothing but praise ( I'm doing philosophy and psychology).
Also, from what I understand, there's nothing to say you'll definitely take more than three years, just that you can if you want.

Post by **Sades** » Sat Jul 06, 2013 4:54 am

Just curious- You can't take a quick refresher course, write the final test again and up your final mark to meet qualifications?

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:18 pm

If I take a quick refreshment course, I'll have to sit through final entry exams for universities in Greece, not UK, and it's much different now from when I was sitting for them circa 2005. I sat for maths, modern greek and IT networks, if I do it again next May I'll have these [with new material to study] plus 6 or so other subjects that I'll probably have to start from ground zero.

Sadly it's too time and money consuming at the moment, I figure it's much easier to just get a loan and be done with straight on courses at the open university.

Kind of tricky to read between the lines though; can I apply in the UK, get the loan [ie pay off the course], then move back to Greece and study from there? Or do I have to be based in the UK through and through [which seems ridiculous because it's studying from a distance regardless]?

Post by **Denyer** » Sat Jul 06, 2013 11:03 pm

http://www.open.ac.uk/study/explained/w ... ide-the-uk

Savannahtron · Post by **Savannahtron** » Thu Aug 01, 2013 3:08 am

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm Mit has a ton of MOOC available. I just started exploring it recently, but it is very promising. I think of it as what Youtube opened for learning on a university level. The knowledge is there for anyone who wants to look for it.