Do people consider OU degrees

[EverythingRightNow]

I was wondering do people consider OU degrees real degrees? One thing that gets me is I'm into arts and crafts, you essentially get a brief & work from it, why don't they do Arts OU that are funded the same way?

It would work in a similar fashion where you touch base with a tutor periodically.

My friends laughed when I suggested getting an OU degree as I should aim for a real one instead. Is this general consensus?

A few years ago I had to read the External Examiner report for every module offered by the OU as part of a quality audit. I have worked with a lot of HEIs and can honestly say I have never seen another institution where the quality of teaching and assessment were so consistently praised by academics from other institutions.

I employ people for very competitive jobs. If a candidate has a degree from OU then I rate it very very highly. In my experience, candidates with OU degrees often have drive, determination, strong work ethic, passion, can work hard, can juggle and multi task, know what they want, and have life experience. They r very good degrees. I've employed OU grads over Oxbridge on some occasions.

Although disadvantaged by inherently not being the students with the best A level grades sometimes the students from the university of Sunderland outperformed the students from the university of Manchester. The same exam does give interesting comparisons.

By the way, to answer those who berrate new Uni's - I have been a student at, and taught at, and been a researcher at, a number of universities. While Oxbridge lives up to expectation and very good, other highly rated universities were really not as good at teaching, and don't seem as good quality as the newer ones. I completed a doctorate level course at Hertfordshire university. Excellent teaching and research staff. I completed a masters at York - terrible teaching, and very disorganised. I think some of the older universities with good reputations rely too much on their reputations, and don't bother trying. Some of the newer universities try really hard and are very forward thinking and innovative. I'd choose Hertfordshire over York any day, and this story has repeated in other new vs red brick type Uni's I've worked in.

I think often the debate on whether a degree from x us better than y is often similar to the debate between selective schools v non selective.

Give me a random student from a selective and I would wager they are more likely to be studious and pass a GCSE than a random person from a non selective.

Ditto Uni's. A random person picked from one if the more selective unis is more likely to be academic and probably have drive and determination to succeed.

However that doesn't mean the a person from a non selective uni will not have such qualities.

I have an OU degree and the only limiting factor on is was I got a 2:2. However, all my employers have liked it and cited it as one of the reasons I was seen as a favourable candidate. My jobs have required high levels of self starting, project discipline and multi-tasking. Employers see that far more as an OU thing and rate it. It opened a whole new career for me and I am about to start a distance learning MSc with Dublin City University to build on my BSc from the OU some 15 years ago.

Do it, employers do rate it. Its not a cop out or an easier option.

Also, the "professions" value lifelong learning and self starting.

I have an OU degree and got a good job - not that it really matters once you're working, but most of my colleagues went to RG unis, with probably around 40-50% oxbridge.

I think that the only way the OU degree would be a negative if it's the only thing on your CV. The talk about it being a mickey mouse uni is nonsense, IME.

@HerSymphonyAndSong studying the same, just finished 😁

I'm baffled as to how anyone else could do the work for you. You do a three hour exam at the end of each module, photo ID is required and checked!

My OU degree often becomes a talking point as I’m studying it (60 credits at a time, so equiv to a 1 year subject at a red brick) while working 60 hour weeks. People are mind boggled about how I find time and so I tell them about my daily schedule and it usually wins me the job. I am highly organised, used to being under pressure, and OU showcases that (plus it’s a very good degree). Have already got conditional and unconditional masters offers from top 5 unis around the world on the back of it, so can’t be doing too badly!

Nuttynoo

If you don't mind mentioning, which universities? I'm curious.

@xmeow - London Business School, Kellogg, and IE (Spain). The unconditional offer is from Wharton.

nettle
Life exists outside the magic circle law firms.
The only people I know that got law training contracts recently were not at Oxbridge - in fact those studing there didn't.

Most magic circle law firms are perfectly open to OU degrees (with decent grades and relevant work experience, etc) - I suspect that lots of people don't apply because they decide for themselves that their CV wouldn't make the cut.

Wow, you can't let it go, can you?

In response to somebody's bizarre statement that 'many companies' apparently think that Oxbridge degrees are worth less than those from less traditionally prestigious universities, and would regard a such a degree as 'a black mark', I said that somebody with an Oxbridge degree would be more likely to get an interview at a magic circle law firm than somebody with a degree from the university of Lincoln. I stand by that.

I did not say that there is no life outside a magic circle law firm. How did you decide that, based on what I wrote? Are you still resentful because nobody was able to name these companies that seemingly look down on Oxbridge degrees? A recruiter posted on the thread to rubbish that one.

Nor did I say that somebody with a degree from the OU wouldn't get an interview at a top law firm.

I realise that some posters hold particular beliefs dear and would like them to be true. That doesn't mean that they are true. Things are as they are. An OU degree is perfectly respectable, yes. That somebody who has studied for one believes that they had to work harder than somebody studying at e.g. Bristol university in order to fit studying around their life, or that OU degrees are more difficult because the marking is harder, etc., doesn't mean that the people deciding who to employ will automatically put the holder of the OU degree to the top of the pile ahead of holders of degrees from traditional, prestigious bricks and mortar universities.

@Nettletheelf - OU tends to offer higher returns on investment when the graduate works in the line of work they are studying for (or something close to it). So the girl who left school at 16 to work her way up an investment bank (happens a lot more than people think) into m&a is practically guaranteed a magic circle job regardless of where she studies law provided she still works. In that situation OU has more weight than Oxbridge because you generally can’t study the latter via distance learning or part-time without seriously impacting your office time.

So in other words, you can't think of a like with like comparison in which an OU degree automatically trumps an Oxbridge degree.

I'm baffled as to how anyone else could do the work for you. You do a three hour exam at the end of each module, photo ID is required and checked!

I didnt have exams at the end of any module, I had no residentials and no one ever asked to see my ID. I just completed assignments and submitted them via email.

It's easy to see how anyone at all could have completed my assignments and I could have easily turned them in as mine. This was the point made when I applied for pgce at a brick uni. This was 10 years ago and things have clearly changed but anyone who took an OU qualification 10+ years ago 'could' have cheated hence their reluctance to take OU degrees seriously now.

Definitely not the case any more. Most degree qualification courses have a set syllabus now, and coursework only modules are rare above 2nd year. But I guess it depends on what you study - their business school is fantastic and you will often study to the level equivalent to masters at other universities.

Nutty that's very dependent on the subject. Social sciences tend to have exams at level 2 (as well as coursework) but a longer essay/project (and coursework) for levels 1 and 3.

There's always back and forth over exams v. Submitted work for the purpose of evaluation. They both have strengths and weaknesses. Though people think it's easier to cheat on submitted work, there's a lot of cheating going on in exams now too - newer technology has made it easier than ever.

The ou is hard, hard work. I learnt loads. I worked far harder than when I went to uni originally.

Same. I'm one year into what will be a six year degree and I've worked far harder in that one year than I did in my three years as a student at a B&M university. Partly due to the nature of the degree itself (Maths vs. English) and partly because my whole outlook has changed since being a full time student.

I went to one of the ancient universities and did my postgraduate year at what was then a Central Institution but is now a very well regarded modern university. My job doesn't care where I or my direct colleagues did our degrees or in what subject, only that we have that level of education. Two of my friends, one of whom was my uni flatmate, are OU tutors. For my original degree course, I had the choice of three UK universities, one of which was Cambridge; I didn't even consider Cambridge because the course there was known in the profession to be crap. A friend started her degree at a B&M university then transferred on their advice to OU for family reasons. OU is well respected by employers and other universities as equal. In addition, their examinations seem a lot tighter than many - I never had to prove my identity at any of my B&M uni exams, and Edinburgh, for example, has recently had well-publicised problems with cheating.

But it doesn't mean that they will put the trad uni holder above the ou holder either.

My DD is just applying for jobs post uni. In her applications the place where the degree has been gained has no place on the form I believe.

Reinette I did some initial courses actually more than then years ago and there was one Level 1 or bridging course that was just an assignment at the end but all the rest were proper ID checked exams even then so that's confusing, unless it was also one of the foundation courses you did?
But that's certainly not the case for the rest of the degree. They also have quality control ie external examiners to oversee and mark.
There is basically no more chance of someone else doing your work for you then any other university.

but anyone who took an OU qualification 10+ years ago 'could' have cheated hence their reluctance to take OU degrees seriously now

I did two MSc degrees and a couple of undergrad courses starting in 1999 and I always had to prove identity. For some of the courses we had to do group work and students who didn't participate didn't get the score. Where there wasn't an exam there was an End of Course Assessment which was a reflective learning exercise. No way could anyone have done that for me without suspicions being raised by the course team. OU was much more rigorous than Oxford and Glasgow universities where I also studied.

Geez I sound like a full time student!

I have the greatest respect for people doing OU.going to a real uni is easier. I would be so impressed with the self motivation and perseverance, I would choose OU degree over a regular one.