College of the Sea

The Open University (OU), the largest in Europe, is the UK's only university dedicated to distance learning.

These pages are aimed at seafarers who may choose The Open University to continue their education: those in the Sea Cadet Corps should jump to this page.

Its management education arm, the Open University Business School, is also the largest in Europe and has triple international accreditation. It has around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students.

The university is ranked among the top UK universities for the quality of its teaching and the results of the 2006 National Student Survey gave the OU the highest "overall satisfaction" rating among the 129 higher education providers whose students took part.

The OU offers seafarers an ideal way to continue their education. Its distance learning methods are renowned for their flexibility and there are fewer barriers to entry since there are no interviews and no previous qualifications are required for most courses. To help you finish a degree in a shorter time, credit may be given for your already-held qualifications.

This online review of The Open University's provision has been prepared by The Marine Society College of the Sea to address some of the queries most often raised by seafarers considering OU study.

It is intended to complement the OU's own promotional publications, which are freely available upon request from the OU, and ought not be regarded as a substitute for them.

In particular, the OU's website covering the forces is a good source of advice and guidance for those in unusual circumstances, like seafarers, seeking information about general aspects of OU provision.



What we are seeking to do here is simply to provide a flavour, to outline any particular difficulties you may encounter on account of being a seafarer, and to explain how those difficulties might be overcome.

Personal and professional development courses, suitable for study at sea, and self-contained study packs are available from the OU and the OU Business School at various levels on all sorts of topics.

As well as a wide range of first degree courses in Arts, Science, Social Science and Business, there are:

management training and computer updating courses

short courses, often online, in literature, music, psychology, environmental issues and modern languages

an extensive range of multimedia resource packs for independent leisure study covering areas like planning for retirement and stress management

many higher degrees, both taught and by research.

Whatever your leisure interests or career needs, the OU will have a course for you to consider. If you go to the OU website, you'll find them arranged under these subject headings:

Business and management
Education and teacher training
Environment
Health and social care/Health studies
Humanities: arts, languages, history
Information technology and computing
Law and Criminology
Mathematics and statistics
Psychology, philosophy, politics, economics
Science
Social sciences
Technology, engineering and manufacturing
Continuing Professional Development

The OU and OU Business School cater to the continuing professional development (CPD) needs of thousands of individuals every year by offering flexible, accessible and value-for-money courses. Every one is based on our ability to blend learning delivery according to personal situations (such as being at sea) rather than requiring regular classroom attendance. The OU works closely with The Marine Society College of the Sea to design courses that match business needs.