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The Open University in the North

The 20 years since The Open University first offered its courses to students in other EU countries have seen its Newcastle-based European operation blossom into the largest organisation of its type in Europe.

In addition to managing the OU's work throughout the North of England, the Newcastle office, in Gosforth, has a special responsibility for looking after about 12,000 students in continental western Europe. There are another 12,000 students in eastern and central Europe taking business courses provided by the Open University Business School (OUBS).

With the OU being the largest UK university by student numbers, and OUBS the largest business school in Europe, the institution is now a global leader in open distance learning. More than a quarter of the Business School's student base is now in the rest of the EU, outside the UK. The OU also offers language courses in French, German and Spanish, with residential schools every summer in the countries concerned.

"We are the biggest e-learning university in Europe and we could not do it if we did not have the linguistic and cultural capacity in this region'," says Andrew Robinson, Assistant Director for European and Regional Development. "That says positive things about the types of skills we are looking for in our staff, in particular recognition of the importance of lifelong learning, cultural sensitivity and partnership.

Andrew Robinson - Assistant Director for European and Regional Development

"We have doubled our staff numbers over eight years and we now have about 80 based in Newcastle looking after both the regional and European workload. We haven't created a separate European unit - we have embedded it into the organisation, so most people have had to become multi-skilled."

It is not just a language issue, but is also about understanding the needs of students and answering sensitive enquiries from people from a variety of countries and cultures. These requirements are reflected in both the induction process and ongoing training for staff, says Andrew.

"There may be a call from Ashington one minute and Athens the next - we treat our market outside the UK as an extension of the domestic market. But the term domestic is not about seeing the world through British eyes: it's about understanding the needs, cultures and policies of countries across the EU, and also in Switzerland and Slovenia."

Running a pan-European operation from the North-East has its challenges, but has tremendous rewards, and staff welcome the diversity of working in an international environment, says Andrew. Because the OU is a leader in lifelong learning, there is an in-house culture of constantly seeking to upgrade personal and professional skills, and to become more customer-focused.

"This is reflected in the number of staff who handle the linguistic and cultural dimensions of the job, dealing both with enquirers, continuing students, and the OU's own network of Co-ordinators across Europe.

"This is also true among the 130 tutors across Europe, managed from the Newcastle office - these are the people who give the OU its competitive edge, adding personal contact to the concept of distance or ICT-based learning.

"Here is a region of the UK, outside the South-East, making a success of an operation harnessing education, cultural sensitivity and information and communications technology. It's a good example of a British organisation, using mainly British people to sell a British product, but adopting a European mindset.

"Most customers want their course in English - they want access to a British education, but they want their case studies, tutors and a support system to reflect and draw strength from other cultures and conditions."

That said, the OU has also translated courses into French, and languages of central and eastern Europe, the latter resulting from demand after the fall of the Berlin Wall. All told, says Andrew, the OU has evolved significantly since courses were first offered to British nationals in Brussels in 1982, and since that scheme was extended across the EU in 1993.

"Thanks to the demands of the market, the OU is changing from an Anglo-centric organisation to one that is much more sensitive to the international and European environment," he concludes.

Since this case study was written, Andrew Robinson has left the Open University and is now joint coordinator for ONE NorthEast of the EU eJustice project. He is also adviser to the Open University and the Italian NETTUNO university consortium, as well as a Board Member of CNED, in France.