Foreign Perspectives

One of the truly sad things about the whole mess that’s ELQ is that it seems quite likely that the Open University will end up closing its doors at some point because of it.

Why? Well, historically the OU has attracted more than its fair share of students who are studying for a second degree at the same level as their main degree, according to the governments model some 25% of the student population. Personally, I’d have put that figure much higher as it certainly appears to be more like 50% for the courses that I’ve been doing. Having said that, presumably languages would be a more likely second degree than many other subjects that they offer.

The problem is that even taking that 25% as the “real” figure those people would potentially be hit with a fee more than double what they’ll currently be paying. For example, my Human Biology course is currently £360 for those living in the UK, £915 for those in Europe and it’s the £915 that’s the “real” cost of the course. Somehow I can’t see significant numbers from that 25% paying up over £900 for a 30 point course. For my very first French course it rises to £985 for a 30 point course and, honestly, I don’t know anyone in our tutor group who’d have paid that amount.

Or what about those fantastic 10 point courses that they run? Well, at almost triple the current cost I just don’t see the student numbers adding up somehow.

Naturally, the effect will be different depending on the course. The recent rise in the number of students coming to the OU straight after A-levels will obviously have a softening effect but there are some subjects that are clearly more attractive as a second qualification in these hard economic times and one could well see entire departments closing after losing that critical mass of students that OU courses require.

Of course, it’s not just the OU that’s being hit by this crazy policy but I suspect that it’ll be the most obvious casualty in this affair. In other places we’ll just notice that the cost of night classes has jumped dramatically and then the following year that there aren’t nearly so many on offer.

It does seem particularly sad that for another £1.50 PER YEAR tax for each of us this could have been avoided.