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Trouble is brewing, or has already brewed, at the Open University which is facing falling admissions, cutbacks and redundancies. Today’s paper reports a fall in annual admissions of just over 100,000 since 2011.
As a sometime student and current outsider looking in, I have followed the demise of this once great institution with increasing sadness.
One change that hasn’t been mentioned is the growth in young people (under 25s) studying with the OU – ironically, because it is more affordable at the same time that it is excluding its traditional demographic.
The growth in younger students isn’t a bad thing – it’s probably making a university education available to people who wouldn’t otherwise afford it, whose personal circumstances make traditional university difficult or who just want to get on with things without having the whole “uni” experience. But there does also need to be space for its traditional constituency of people who missed out or messed up.
Education is a good thing in itself – everybody benefits and everybody loses out when it’s simply seen as another commodity or, heaven help us, a luxury item.
After Work 
At 60k a throw, if studying away from home, full time, it’s either a long term investment which may or may not pay dividends, or it’s a luxury.
I personally do not know anybody who used an O.U. degree to further their career. Learning is a wonderful thing, but an O.U. degree represents the investment of a lot of time & money, so needs to be considered carefully.
Those I know who did complete degrees later in life did so for the pure joy of learning.
I’ve known several people who have used an OU degree to further their career – or to actually get a career which has made full use of their talents and benefited society. Several have gone on to become teachers, for example. There is nothing wrong with education for its own sake and there are often hidden benefits from involvement in the voluntary sector, politics or simply by being a better educated citizen.
My son is doing his degree with the OU from home. So far so good ! Being able to study from home has been very important to him.