THE OPEN UNIVERSITY AS AN INNOVATIVE COMPONENT OF THE UK HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM
Abstract
The problem of “openness” at the UK higher school is considered in the article on the basis of the Open University case studying. It has been found that the history of the institution reflects the development of the “openness” concept at higher school of the United Kingdom. Particularly, in the period dated from the XX till the beginning of the XXI century an “open” approach, which was practiced by British higher education
establishments, was based on commitment to the strict following the structure of the studying course by students, as well as to the agreed starting and finishing points of the course completion and standard procedures of the studying outcomes assessment. Each of the mentioned chronological periods is characterized by a concrete image of a typical student and orientation to his specific needs. The essence of a modern “open” higher education institution has been characterized from the UK higher school experts’ point of view not only as a large active-teaching establishment, but also as a powerful research center and a site for social support and activation on a national and the world scene. It is also expected from a modern open university to be able to implement innovative initiatives. The main challenges for modern open universities have been identified in the context of meeting requirements represented by different categories of potential customers. The main principles embedded in the UK Open University Development Strategy have been studied. It has been found that they represent further prospects for the UK “open” higher education development and reflect current problems, such as necessity for increasing number of students, improving graduates’ employment and career development, providing high academic excellence and leadership in digital technologies, organization and culture flexibility, diversification of income and reducing costs. The UK Open University experience has been analyzed aimed at finding new ways for building capacity of Ukrainian universities. The research outcomes have presented the OU uniqueness as an innovative component of the UK higher education system, particularly, due to its ability to combine scale with personalization and providing “non-traditional” students
with not expensive and respected degrees.
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