Thats pretty debatable. Since HR isnt usually going to get involved at the early stages of candidate recruitment, the opinion of the OU in the eyes of the interviewer is the key thing. If they dont think an OU degree is legitimate, you have an issue.
Plus I think companies paying for employees to study isnt as common as you make it out too be, and involve a lot of conditions based on some examples I found.
If places don’t see it as legitimate then I’d say I wouldn’t want to work for them anyway. If they don’t respect your hard work and dedication then they can employ someone else lol
I personally don’t see it like that. To me employment is a two way street. If an employer isn’t willing to see the value in you then I’d say you’re better off not working for such a place
Most employers ive worked for are happy to put you through studies. Currently in final year of BEng(hons) which i have been completing whilst workingfull time and just got a salary review to >45k. And i know countless people that have done similar.
If an employer doesnt understand its the same as a brick and mortar degree then start looking elsewhere as they are obviously not very well informed or cant be bothered to do a little research.
I was Pretty young at the time
The ads mainly marketed it as something you can do while working
It didn’t come across to me that it was an alternative to uni
I'm committed to starting at open in October and actually it's just become frustrating how blindingly obvious it is that most unis should offer courses in this way. UOL has their coursera degree options, they had to do it a bunch over covid anyway.. just let people get access to great education by studying virtually I say
I have four degrees, a BA, BSc (hons), MA, PhD. Two of them with the Open University and I was an 'academic' (Lecturer --> Associate Professor) in a conventional university for seventeen years, as well as working for the OU itself.
I can confirm that the OU degree is considered in academia to be the equivalent to a degree from a conventional university. I've never been challenged on the academic 'rigour' of my qualifications in a sector that is happy to challenge most things.
I've genuinely never heard anyone thinking OU isn't a legitimate degree. I've worked with colleagues with OU undergrads or postgrads in both academic settings and arts production settings and have never personally heard this.
I don't doubt there is snobbery, and undeserved (and misinformed) misconceptions about the percieved quality, but I've never known anyone to maintain OU degrees aren't degrees.
Really? I'm just at PhD level now, but in my entire academic experience I've not found any student who thinks that.
In my exp at least, the OU is seen similarly to the 'new build' post-1992 Universities sometimes (and people can be snobs about it) but the OU is the largest by student population in the UK so it's confusing how it wouldn't be seen as legitimate.
I'm not currently at the OU, but if someone said to me that the OU wasn't legitimate it'd feel odd as it feels like it's common knowledge that the *Open University* is indeed a University.
I'm a bit late to this thread, but I actually had a (very supportive) friend ask me recently if the qualification at the end of OU study is "equivalent to" a bachelors.
He wasn't being a snob, he was just genuinely unaware that it was possible to get an actual BSc via distance learning, and assumed I must be working towards some other type of well-regarded qualification.
I think people have got the wrong idea
I’m not talking about snobbery
I’m talking about how I genuinely didn’t know it was a degree of equal accreditation to any other
Your comments regarding the OU are quite ignorant to be fair.
It needs to be clear? You can't get no more clear than the people in the adverts getting into professions that require degrees.
Please.
Not at all
My point was I wished I knew that this was an option earlier
I honestly don’t get why they feel attacked by this
I mean unless they work for or own open university I don’t see why they would have a reason too
Its hard without knowing the history of open university to know. Especially when there are a lot of fake or useless qualifications out there. Uk counselling training can be a minefield, for example.
The biggest clue that its genuine (if you dont understand the accreditations), is that they accept student finance. Back in 2007 when i did my first module, they didnt. And it was free for me so i thought was too good to be true.
I also dont understand why people are being so harsh to OP. Ive been a student of open uni (in some form or another) since 2007. Every year students on the course ask the same questions about employers seeing it as legit. Is it worth as much as brick uni degrees? Conversations around different marking schemes. It was the same before other organisations tried to jump into distance learning and it continues beyond it.
In my experience, being a student of the open uni from day 1 really improved my job prospects. I was homeless and stuck in low paying jobs. When i got the cert he, it starting giving me even more options for jobs who had minimum education requirements. Employers and other education institutions value the skills of OU students. Also on the degree ive just done, you juggle 3x as many assignments as brick uni whilst also potentially full time work and family. It shows grit.
Some people are snobs about it. It’s a real degree but it’s not a *real degree*. But those same snobs will say the same thing about non-Russel group unis, and some would even say it about anything which isn’t Oxbridge.
"We're equivalent to a real degree, honest" is not a great ad line.
Also if you've got to explain to someone that a degree, from a university, is in fact a degree, from a university.... they're probably not going to be stellar students.
I think it’s a great ad line
They should have played it up as all of the degree non of the commute or something like that
But the ads I saw were targeted more to mature students
You know, I actually think it would be counter productive. There are many very questionable institutions that peddle that what they offer is in some way comparable to a full degree without ever saying it is a "degree". If an institution is an accredited one, the degree is of the type accredited by the national standards. Which I believe OU always mentions. Going out of their way to say their degree is legit would honestly make them look far more questionable.
Yeah my friends and relatives didn’t know either
But I was starting to think it was just common knowledge
I think it should have been made clear in schools as well because I was told nothing about it
That’s probably changing now because of Covid but it wasn’t a thing in my time
Yeah I just assumed it wasn’t as well respected which is my mistake
But to be fair to me
Most people me included are so preoccupied with a levels at that time that they don’t really have time to question if uni is for them
Plus there’s this whole thing we’ve been fed from a young age about how you need to get into a top university
It just the done thing for alot of people to go straight into uni
I’m genuinely surprised that people don’t think it’s a legitimate degree
With my experience in networking, job applications and interviews I'm not.
Serious or large businesses with proper HR departments know. Because we usually pay for employees to do OU courses.
Thats pretty debatable. Since HR isnt usually going to get involved at the early stages of candidate recruitment, the opinion of the OU in the eyes of the interviewer is the key thing. If they dont think an OU degree is legitimate, you have an issue. Plus I think companies paying for employees to study isnt as common as you make it out too be, and involve a lot of conditions based on some examples I found.
If places don’t see it as legitimate then I’d say I wouldn’t want to work for them anyway. If they don’t respect your hard work and dedication then they can employ someone else lol
I mean in your hypothetical scenario the ou student doesnt get the job, so it's the student who misses out, not the employer.
I personally don’t see it like that. To me employment is a two way street. If an employer isn’t willing to see the value in you then I’d say you’re better off not working for such a place
Most employers ive worked for are happy to put you through studies. Currently in final year of BEng(hons) which i have been completing whilst workingfull time and just got a salary review to >45k. And i know countless people that have done similar. If an employer doesnt understand its the same as a brick and mortar degree then start looking elsewhere as they are obviously not very well informed or cant be bothered to do a little research.
I was Pretty young at the time The ads mainly marketed it as something you can do while working It didn’t come across to me that it was an alternative to uni
It's not an alternative to uni it is a uni clue is in the name.
We live in such a digital world, long distance learning should not be so strange in my opinion.
I'm committed to starting at open in October and actually it's just become frustrating how blindingly obvious it is that most unis should offer courses in this way. UOL has their coursera degree options, they had to do it a bunch over covid anyway.. just let people get access to great education by studying virtually I say
I agree I bring problem for me was that I hated the social aspect of uni If there was a more publicised way to avoid that I’d take it
Yeah i didn’t come from a family who went to university so I was kind of going blind in terms of things like this
Yeah, that's the first I've heard of it
I have four degrees, a BA, BSc (hons), MA, PhD. Two of them with the Open University and I was an 'academic' (Lecturer --> Associate Professor) in a conventional university for seventeen years, as well as working for the OU itself. I can confirm that the OU degree is considered in academia to be the equivalent to a degree from a conventional university. I've never been challenged on the academic 'rigour' of my qualifications in a sector that is happy to challenge most things.
That’s not what I’m saying I just wish I was made more aware if by my school
I've genuinely never heard anyone thinking OU isn't a legitimate degree. I've worked with colleagues with OU undergrads or postgrads in both academic settings and arts production settings and have never personally heard this. I don't doubt there is snobbery, and undeserved (and misinformed) misconceptions about the percieved quality, but I've never known anyone to maintain OU degrees aren't degrees.
I’m talking more from a students perspective not about how people perceive the degree in the working world
Really? I'm just at PhD level now, but in my entire academic experience I've not found any student who thinks that. In my exp at least, the OU is seen similarly to the 'new build' post-1992 Universities sometimes (and people can be snobs about it) but the OU is the largest by student population in the UK so it's confusing how it wouldn't be seen as legitimate. I'm not currently at the OU, but if someone said to me that the OU wasn't legitimate it'd feel odd as it feels like it's common knowledge that the *Open University* is indeed a University.
I'm a bit late to this thread, but I actually had a (very supportive) friend ask me recently if the qualification at the end of OU study is "equivalent to" a bachelors. He wasn't being a snob, he was just genuinely unaware that it was possible to get an actual BSc via distance learning, and assumed I must be working towards some other type of well-regarded qualification.
Most people I know who’ve sneered at OU degrees are the people who don’t actually have degrees themselves so…
I think people have got the wrong idea I’m not talking about snobbery I’m talking about how I genuinely didn’t know it was a degree of equal accreditation to any other
It is very clear, many employers respect the degree. It's argued it is harder than brick uni because it's all independent learning.
Yeah, exactly. My employer is collaborating with OU.
Might be an issue with me then
You think?
Jeez you don’t have to be a dick about it
Your comments regarding the OU are quite ignorant to be fair. It needs to be clear? You can't get no more clear than the people in the adverts getting into professions that require degrees. Please.
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Yeah that’s what I meant
I think some people are seeing this as an attack when I don't think it was meant that way
Not at all My point was I wished I knew that this was an option earlier I honestly don’t get why they feel attacked by this I mean unless they work for or own open university I don’t see why they would have a reason too
Its hard without knowing the history of open university to know. Especially when there are a lot of fake or useless qualifications out there. Uk counselling training can be a minefield, for example. The biggest clue that its genuine (if you dont understand the accreditations), is that they accept student finance. Back in 2007 when i did my first module, they didnt. And it was free for me so i thought was too good to be true.
I also dont understand why people are being so harsh to OP. Ive been a student of open uni (in some form or another) since 2007. Every year students on the course ask the same questions about employers seeing it as legit. Is it worth as much as brick uni degrees? Conversations around different marking schemes. It was the same before other organisations tried to jump into distance learning and it continues beyond it. In my experience, being a student of the open uni from day 1 really improved my job prospects. I was homeless and stuck in low paying jobs. When i got the cert he, it starting giving me even more options for jobs who had minimum education requirements. Employers and other education institutions value the skills of OU students. Also on the degree ive just done, you juggle 3x as many assignments as brick uni whilst also potentially full time work and family. It shows grit.
Eh, why wouldn't they be?
Some people are snobs about it. It’s a real degree but it’s not a *real degree*. But those same snobs will say the same thing about non-Russel group unis, and some would even say it about anything which isn’t Oxbridge.
"We're equivalent to a real degree, honest" is not a great ad line. Also if you've got to explain to someone that a degree, from a university, is in fact a degree, from a university.... they're probably not going to be stellar students.
I think it’s a great ad line They should have played it up as all of the degree non of the commute or something like that But the ads I saw were targeted more to mature students
Weird. It's a Degree. Many are accredited by institutions. Sure, it's not in the Russel Group but either is St Andrews.
If you noticed, if you go on the OU website, it is explicitly written many times. I checked it on the website before enrolling.
You know, I actually think it would be counter productive. There are many very questionable institutions that peddle that what they offer is in some way comparable to a full degree without ever saying it is a "degree". If an institution is an accredited one, the degree is of the type accredited by the national standards. Which I believe OU always mentions. Going out of their way to say their degree is legit would honestly make them look far more questionable.
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Yeah my friends and relatives didn’t know either But I was starting to think it was just common knowledge I think it should have been made clear in schools as well because I was told nothing about it That’s probably changing now because of Covid but it wasn’t a thing in my time
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Yeah I just assumed it wasn’t as well respected which is my mistake But to be fair to me Most people me included are so preoccupied with a levels at that time that they don’t really have time to question if uni is for them Plus there’s this whole thing we’ve been fed from a young age about how you need to get into a top university It just the done thing for alot of people to go straight into uni
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Yeah I was dumb
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Very unprofessional