Re the letters of 18 March,the first use of the term Open University was in a footnote to Brian Jackson and Dennis Marsden’s book Education and the Working Class (1962). Michael Young took it up in preference to “University of the Air” and wrote a paper which I inserted at the final moment in the magazine Where?, calling it Towards an Open University. That established its name and ethos.
The OU was the outstanding legacy of the Wilson government, and giving a moment chance to hundreds of thousands of people failed by the conventional education system,particularly women. It would be a tragedy whether all that were to be lost as a result of funding cuts and high fees.
Sonia Jackson
Emeritus professor, UCL Institute of Education Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com