Open University Students AssociationLondon RegionHome Page
Website updated :- 13 December 2011 CEC supports petitionAt the recent meeting the CEC agreed to support a petition put together by the Open
University Branch of University and Colleges Union which is intended to force a
debate in the House of Commons. The debate would be focussed on the threat to the
Open University's hugely respected mission of widening participation in higher
education and being open to all those willing to commit themselves to study regardless
of educational qualifications or ability to pay. Further info and the link to the
petition is on our website at http://news.kmi.open.ac.uk/rostra/news.php?r=82&t=2&id=175 Report from the OUinL November meetingOpen University in London Committee 2nd November 2011 This was the first meeting of the committee (which is made up of students, Associate Lecturers and OU staff) since the change in structure to the Regional Offices in England. It was chaired by Michelle Hemming who as Assistant Director, Student Services now heads the London Regional Office. This meeting was structured differently from normal and although I do not know who made the decision on that I understand that the Committees in the other Regions were being held in a similar format. We were then given a presentation on the future plans for the OU which covered the following areas: UK Market Strategy - the OU is looking initially to focus on 20-49 year olds who have not got a degree who are looking for a qualification for career purposes, over 50s looking to improve their knowledge and post graduate students from 24-49. However, Martin Bean the Vice Chancellor has indicated that this could change depending on future circumstances. New Fees Structure - summary of increases to fees and availability of loans from 2012/13. Confirmed OU committed to ensure as many as possible current students are covered by the transitional funding process. National Scholarship Scheme - funding has been secured by the OU to help those not yet prepared for higher education, likely to be subsidised Openings and Level 1 courses but full details have yet to be decided. Ready for 2012/13 - there are many projects in hand to be prepared for new students in Autumn 2012 whilst still maintaining effective support for existing students. Undergraduate Qualification & Modular Delivery Models - main principles
Delivery Models' paper. We were advised that our feedback along with that of the other Regions was to be forwarded to the Director of Communications Lucy Hudson. Susan Scott. CECM London OUSA-ECM-London@openmail.open.ac.uk First Class is nearing it's end.On Wednesday 8th June all O U S A forums will move over to VLE (Moodle format). Access will be found at the bottom left hand side of your Student Home Page. First Class will be available read only for a short time. London Regional Assembly MeetingThe face to face section was held at the O U 's Camden centre on the 5 June followed by an enjoyable social at the 'Ice Warf'. The meeting will be deciding what events to put on this year, continue the re-launch O U S A in London and appointing student representatives to the O U Committees (all London students are eligible to stand.) Have your say and help make your Association work by telling us what you think, also if you feel inclined to help you will be most welcome. We will also be launching London Groups. QuickNews UpdateThe London Assembly Communications team are in the process of reviewing and updating the communications system and apologise for the lack of communication recently. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we do not have access to the original QuickNews e-mail list. A test e-mail has been sent out to those addresses that we do have. If you have not received this e-mail and wish to continue receiving QuickNews please send your e-mail address to ousalondonnews followed by @ then gmail.com so that you can be added to the new list. O U S A Conference 2011 News in brief.Conference accepted Futures with a unanimous vote. We now have the new constitution. Maz has produced a list of Conference motions results. Follow the above path to O U S A R 0 1. Will Swann, Director(Students) for the Open University, highlighted the educational and funding cuts in his speech and stated that the government had admitted that it was making these cuts not knowing what the effects would be. The O U S A students team convincinly beat the O U Academics team again this year in the rerun of O U S A Challenge. Will they be able to make it three in a row next year? O U S A London ReorganisationNow that O U S A's new consitution has been accepted the new London Assembly will be organised in the following way. The London Region will now be run by a Regional Executive consisting of 8 members elected by the membership plus the Central Executive Member for London who is also directly elected. This Executive will organise and run the region in conjunction with the Regional Assembly which will potentially consist of some 40 to 50 members. They will also be directly elected by the members. Instead of branches there will now be informal ad hoc groups formed by students with similar interests, e.g. Social, Photography, Theatre, Study Groups etc. If you would like to form one of these groups contact us ousainlondon @ googlemail.com. The Region will be able to pay for some costs and more details will be available shortly. Once they have been approved by the Assembly groups can have their details added to the Newsletter, Website and Quicknews. They will also soon be able to have their own Forums in the new OUSA Suite and use OUSA to send out Newsletters to people registered with the group.. What's Happening?Their are a number of London representatives on various O U and O U S A commitees, They are there to represent you the London student, so let them know your views on what you want our student association to do about the funding cuts and the Open Universities proposals to cope with the reduction in educational grants, the removal of courses at short notice, removal of residential schools, etc. Email us if you need further help.ousainlondon @ googlemail.com In future our events will also appear in the diary section of the Open University Network of Facebook. You can also say there whether you will be coming and leave comments both before and after the event. Our own group has also just been opened on Facebook for O U S A London Region. Why not join in the fun and see us there? A note on accessibilityWe have tried to make this site as accessible as possible, especially for those using electronic readers which is why acronyms (such as that for Open University Students' Association) has spaces in between the letters. The downside of this is that sometimes they can run over two lines! We have also kept the site deliberately simple, without bells and whistles, so that as each web-master moves on to pastures new, their successor need not be a skilled web designer. Membership of O U S AEvery Open University student automatically becomes a member of O U S A (pronounced Ooo-sah). Membership is free and by becoming involved in your student association you will develop personal skills that perhaps you didn’t even know you had! We can help you, train you, and together we can help our fellow students. The main objectives of O U S A are to represent, to support, and to socialise! QuickNewsFollowing the successful Study Skills Workshops and Branch Meetings held in the recent past, the number of people receiving “QuickNews” messages has increased significantly. If you would like to be included in this external email service that will keep you posted on up to date information about events, between newsletters send an email to our new dedicated “QuickNews“ email address:- ousalondonnews@gmail.com. Alternatively if you are currently receiving “QuickNews“ and no longer wish to, email us and ask to be removed from the list. What is the London Regional Assembly?The London Regional Assembly [R A] is just one of the 16 that make up the Students' Association. It comprises student volunteers who are elected from the membership, and other members such as the Executive Commitee Member (E C M) representing us on the O U S A Central Executive Committee. The Assembly meets three or four times a year and organises, for example, Openday events at the London Regional Centre, events at OU Residential Schools held in the summer at Queen Mary's University in Mile End and O U S A's Gift Shop at Degree Ceremonies as well as electing representatives to other O U and O U S A bodies. London has around 26,000 of the O U's current 250,000 students. |