Open University degrees

finchy

Has anyone on here done an OU degree? Is it worth doing? Would an employer value the degree?

I'm thinking of doing one of the science degrees, but don't know whether to go with OU or see about doing it with a French university's distance learning service.

alfablue

Not done one, but plenty of colleagues have, I think they are highly valued by employers, the academic standards are very consistent, and achieving a degree through this route demonstrates a certain self discipline and motivation that may not be so necessary in a conventional degree.

Anonymous

I have an OU degree, a BA in techno;ogy. It is tough, the hardest thing is getting off your bum to study, but once you do it works. It took me 4 years, where I did 2 60 point courses for the first 2 years and then took smaller 20 and 30 point courses to complement the main course. Well worth it.

finchy

Thanks for your advice. I am quite self-disciplined about study, and I really want to change my life around, so I think I'm definitely going to go for it. I can start in January.

alfablue

Hey, go for it John! My son did some OU courses (left school without A levels), he is now doing a Masters in Engineering course sponsored by his future employer. It changed his life around.

softlad

my sis took an OU english degree - now a teacher. It turned her life around - she used to moan about her own kids and now she moans about everyone else's..

muffin top

John,
Yea, I'm the very proud owner of an OU MSc.

Here's the deal:
OU - excellent staff, teaching material and organisation
You - hard work, self-discipline

It's tough studying while working and dragging up the kids, but I'd say it's worth it.

MT

tebbit

I didn't do an OU degree I did a CEM (College of Estate Management) Diploma in Quantity Surveying, which used to be quite common in the Surveying profession, distance learning is hard work but rewarding. Just working on my dissertation for my MSc, again distance learning, hard work but worth it.

finchy

Well, this all seems very positive. Thanks again everyone. First step to changing my life! 8)

finchy

djbarren wrote:

I know now that the BEng is now recoganised by chartered engineers, so an employer would be petty to ignore or not recoganise it. I am half way through mine at the moment. Tough with 3 wee ones in the house. But worth it.

How do you get the practical experience of something like an engineering or science course from a distance learning university? I know there are residential schools, but are there any other opportunities for some hands-on?

pst88

The mrs has just signed up to do a law course with them, starting in February. Glad to hear other people think it's worth while otherwise it'll turn out to be a very expensive hobby for her... think of all the bikes I could buy with that tuition money (or one incredibly awesome bike)!

passout

I lecture at a University and OU degrees are seen as having the same academic rigour as any other degree. I've not heard anything negative about the OU. Furthermore if you are going to engage in distance-learning you may as well choose a Uni. course that is set up to operate in this fashion. My only generic advice for choosing a Uni. is to be led by the course, the department and then the University itself - in that order. If the course content suits you, then go for it.

symo

Some of the best engineers I have worked with are guys who started as apprentices and ended up doing OU degrees. They were self disciplined and diligent. In fact they are pretty much the ideal project engineers as I only had to ask once for any work.

term1te

I have a masters degree from the OU and would highly recommend them. The material (that I've seen) is excellent and the majority of tutors/staff I met where equally good. Depending on the job and the relevance of the course to it, I think most employers would rate an OU degree.

My only slightly negative comment would be that I never met anyone who has failed a course when they actually handed all the work in. May not sound like a problem, but having seen some of the work that was submitted I wondered why on earth I was putting so much effort in to my assignments when some pretty poor work (IMHO) was getting passed. I don't want to sound like some academic snob, but on one course in particular it rather devalued the achievement of completing it.

Please don't let me put you off, if you put the effort in you'll get an excellent education.

If you want the French connection, you can graduate in Paris! I did a few years back at the Palace of Versailles.

tyskie

pst88 wrote:

The mrs has just signed up to do a law course with them, starting in February. Glad to hear other people think it's worth while otherwise it'll turn out to be a very expensive hobby for her... think of all the bikes I could buy with that tuition money (or one incredibly awesome bike)!

I did the OU Law Degree a few years back and can highly recommend it (except the property, equity and trusts bit that is :? ).

I'm not really sure how employers view the quality of the OU degree but in my experience they do see the effort and self discipline required to do it and that in itself is a positive for getting a job/promotion.

passout

Term1te wrote:

I have a masters degree from the OU and would highly recommend them. The material (that I've seen) is excellent and the majority of tutors/staff I met where equally good. Depending on the job and the relevance of the course to it, I think most employers would rate an OU degree.

My only slightly negative comment would be that I never met anyone who has failed a course when they actually handed all the work in. May not sound like a problem, but having seen some of the work that was submitted I wondered why on earth I was putting so much effort in to my assignments when some pretty poor work (IMHO) was getting passed. I don't want to sound like some academic snob, but on one course in particular it rather devalued the achievement of completing it.

Please don't let me put you off, if you put the effort in you'll get an excellent education.

If you want the French connection, you can graduate in Paris! I did a few years back at the Palace of Versailles.

Well there is a big difference between getting a first class honours degree and a third; I assume that poorer work scraped past at 40 something percent. Hopefully you were rewarded with a good degree. All UK degree courses & coursework are regulated by internal moderators and external examiners.

Harry B

I did the law degree when it first came out. I'm now a lawyer with a city firm. I work alongside Oxbridge graduates some of whom can be a bit snobby about my unconventional (in their terms) background but by a large employers do appreciate the self disclipline needed to gain a degree with the OU.

Good luck!

finchy

I've been looking at some OU course material in my local library today. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised, because the module titles give very little indication of the breadth of studies that they contain.

dmclite - I confess that I was also surprised when you said that you had an OU degree, because of some of the things you've said to teagar. It appeared to me that you didn't value studies (or students), but I can see now you were just winding him up.

Anonymous

johnfinch wrote:

I've been looking at some OU course material in my local library today. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised, because the module titles give very little indication of the breadth of studies that they contain.

dmclite - I confess that I was also surprised when you said that you had an OU degree, because of some of the things you've said to teagar. It appeared to me that you didn't value studies (or students), but I can see now you were just winding him up.

Ohh yes, the power of education. Poor old teagar is only 21, I'm 38 and travelled/experienced lots, works to your advantage, devils advocate is an easy one.

finchy

Well, now the two of you have a bond you can become best of buddies and have some nice conversations.

First subject for discussion: which of you has the most worthwhile degree

Anonymous

johnfinch wrote:

Well, now the two of you have a bond you can become best of buddies and have some nice conversations.

First subject for discussion: which of you has the most worthwhile degree

I think teagar will talk, dispose and ponder that argument to death, quite happy to let him get that one. Still, I reckon I could kick his ar5e on a bike any time he felt punchy

Escargot

I've both worked for the OU and have an OU degree.

I love my job at the moment but the OU is without doubt the best employer I've worked for. For sure they don't get everything right but I loved every day I worked there. I guess this is not that important to your degree but I thought it might be good to know that the 'machine' behind the courses is first class.

As for their degrees I'd say go for it. Providing you get into it you will become a master of time management and will end up wondering why you couldn't fit quite as much into your life before Cost wise the courses are excellent value for money yet OU degrees are amongst the best in the UK. The bonus for me was graduating in Versailles as I didn't fancy any of the UK options.

Coursewise it is very tough going so make no mistake that you are in for a hard slog. Not only will you need to put in up to 20+ hours a week (for a 60 point course) but depending on your area may find no students in the immediate vicinity. Of course the online conference area is great but when the going gets really tough you can find the OU a lonely place (you'd normally be able to share experiences with mates in a conventional uni). My wife/kids were always spot on but also bear in mind that families may also suffer and if you want a first you may have to give up your friends too during the week.

Whilst this may sound all doom and gloom this is what makes an OU degree so highly regarded. It shows an employer a level of dedication that a lot of people just don't have. I'm not knocking conventional degrees but regular students don't have a great deal else to worry about other than diggs and the degree. OU students on the other hand need to juggle work, families, mortgages and everything else life has to throw at you.

OU degrees used to be a bit of a '2nd time round' sort of thing but if you work out the timeline you will find that you're well in advance of conventional students both in experience, salary and finance come graduation (all things being equal that is).

If you do decide to take it up then best of luck

finchy

Thanks Escargot, I don't need to worry about losing friends and a social life, because... well, I'm sure you can guess the rest.

Escargot

LOL

In that case then you'll make loads of virtual new ones on the conference area

finchy

Escargot wrote:

LOL

In that case then you'll make loads of virtual new ones on the conference area

Yeah, virtual friends, so much better than real ones! :roll:

redddraggon

How do employers value a OU a compared to a top bricks&mortar uni? I wonder if there is any recruiters/HR out there?

finchy

redddraggon wrote:

How do employers value a OU a compared to a top bricks&mortar uni? I wonder if there is any recruiters/HR out there?

Having already got a degree from a traditional university, I would hope that recruiters don't discriminate against OU. I knew people who did the bare minimum and walked away with a 2.1

Anonymous

johnfinch wrote:

redddraggon wrote:

How do employers value a OU a compared to a top bricks&mortar uni? I wonder if there is any recruiters/HR out there?

Having already got a degree from a traditional university, I would hope that recruiters don't discriminate against OU. I knew people who did the bare minimum and walked away with a 2.1

There is the veiwoint that you have got a degree whilst being older, holding down a job/career, kids and family. takes a bit more effort than a traditional, embedded degree to a certain extent.

Escargot

redddraggon wrote:

How do employers value a OU a compared to a top bricks&mortar uni? I wonder if there is any recruiters/HR out there?

Not sure really but it's probably either down to the person reviewing the CV i.e. based on opinions/prejudices, or in the same way as they do with establishment reputation i.e. Cambridge vs Luton etc.

I think it depends on how the company handles it's recruitment. I know my company forwards all CV's directly to the department head/technical expert as there's no way someone in HR could ascertain in detail what a department is looking for.

It's a tricky one as the degrees are totally different and for something like engineering experience is king. Thus OU degrees are looked on very favourably (it was at least in my case) as I had 6 years work experience (relatively) after I finished my degree. Compared to a conventional graduate most would only just have finished their graduate programme so it doesn't really compare.

How this compares with other trades I'm not sure but the OU accounts for a very high percentage of MBA's in this country (IIRC over 50%)