British "Open University"...40 years later

An early broadcast of the Open University, which went on air for the first time on the BBC on 3 January 1971.

A good idea but not the same thing as being on campus.

"Open University celebrates broadcasting milestone"

The Open University celebrates the 40th anniversary of its first lecture to be broadcast on BBC television

January 2nd, 2011

guardian.co.uk

The Open University is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its first lecture to be broadcast on BBC television.

The groundbreaking transmission, which went on air on BBC2 on 3 January 1971, led to four decades of partnership between the university and the broadcaster, which has produced 7,000 television and 4,000 radio programmes.

The initial black-and-white broadcasts catered for the OU's first enrolment of 25,000 students taking courses in the arts, social sciences, science or maths. The lectures, which switched from late-night broadcasts to the early hours with the introduction of video recorders, have evolved into mainstream OU/BBC programming such as Coast and James May's Big Ideas.

Sally Crompton, head of OU's open broadcasting unit, said the joint programming widened access to learning and had been consistently recognised with industry awards.

She said: "[Our] partnership with the BBC provides a unique way to combine academic expertise and high-quality production. TV, radio and online content brings education to millions of people and, while it has evolved from late night programmes to mainstream television, it is still central to what the OU does, making learning accessible."

The OU received its Royal Charter in 1969 and faced widespread criticism in its early years due to its radical open admissions policy, which did not insist on any prior educational qualifications.

An estimated 300 million viewers watched the BBC/OU's programmes during 2009/10 and the distance-learning university, based in Milton Keynes, has more than 250,000 students, including 20,000 based overseas.