THE ADMINISTRATION OF STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY
| Pages | 83-96 |
| Published date | 01 January 1984 |
| Date | 01 January 1984 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009887 |
| Author | DESMOND J. KEEGAN |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XXII, NUMBER 1 WINTER, 1984
THE ADMINISTRATION OF STUDENT SUPPORT
SERVICES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY
DESMOND J. KEEGAN
The Open University of the United Kingdom is acknowledged as one of the most
successful distance education system yet designed. High among the reasons for its
success is the student support service provided by the Regional Tutorial Services, a
department of the Open University administrative structure which has received little
acclaim. This paper shows how the Regional Tutorial Services copes with the problem
of drop-outs that has been a feature of many other distance systems and how it seeks
to provide a valid educational experience for those enrolled. Three phases in the
evolution of the present administrative system are analysed and various aspects of
structure are discussed. Attention is drawn to developments in computer recording
which may enable the Regional Tutorial Services to forecast possible drop-outs and
thus take a major step towards eliminating avoidable student withdrawal.
INTRODUCTION
The Charter of the Open University (OU) at Milton Keynes, England, was
granted on 23 April 1969 and in 1979 it celebrated its 10th anniversary.
It is already regarded as one of the most successful developments in higher
education in the 1970s and its success has given the possibility of new status
to distance education throughout the world.
The achievements of the OU are well known. It has carried out its mandate
of teaching by correspondence at university level to students for whom there
is no entry qualification. In 1979 no less than 60,000 students were studying
for a degree. Forty-two percent of the 1979 intake had not matriculated
and would therefore not have been qualified for other British universities.
By 31 December 1978 over 32,000 students had already graduated with
the B.A.(Open) degree. An average of 75 percent of students complete
each course for which they are enrolled. Of the first (1971) cohort of 19,581
students 54.3 percent had graduated by 31 December 1978 and 3,000 were
still studying: this makes nonsense of the forecast made by sceptics in the
late '60s that not more than 10 percent of those enrolled could gain a degree
by correspondence. Since 1977 a further education stream with 20,000
non-degree enrolments has been added to the OU's operations. This is an
impressive record.
Of the many factors which contribute to the OU's success this paper seeks
to highlight one which has received little acclaim: the Regional Tutorial
Services (RTS). Central to any distance education system is the link which
DESMOND J. KEEGAN is Director-General of the Italian Distance University Consortium and
Professor of Education at the University of Calabria. He is also an editor of Distance Education,
the journal of the Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association.
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