News

An Open University research project which is making historical army barracks’ buildings across the island of Ireland more accessible to people in the North and South has received funding.

The North-South Research Programme in Ireland has awarded The Open University (OU) and University College Dublin (UCD) €200k to deliver a project mapping, inventorying, and recording of the Army Barracks of Ireland, 1690-1921.

Niall Stokes, long-standing founder, and editor of the popular Hot Press magazine was today (8 June) bestowed with the honorary degree of Doctor of the University by The Open University in Ireland (OUiI), at a ceremony in Croke Park, Dublin.  The ceremony was the first OU graduation in Ireland since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The celebratory event saw over 100 graduating students joined by friends, family, university alumni and former honorary graduates to mark the occasion.

Ronan Keating has received an honorary degree from The Open University in recognition of his philanthropic contributions to charities over the past 25 years, particularly to improve cancer care.

The Dublin-born musician, songwriter and presenter of BBC ONE’s The One Show, stepped up to receive the accolade for his charitable work following the loss of his mother to breast cancer in 1998.

The Open University (OU)’s commitment to research and societal impact is recognised today (Thursday 12 May), with 82% of its research impact assessed to be ‘world-leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

The Open University’s (OU) free learning site, OpenLearn is celebrating a milestone after clocking up 100 million visitors in the 15 years since it was launched.

Established as a trailblazing open educational resource, OpenLearn has successfully broken-down barriers to education, with over a thousand courses and 15,000 hours of educational interactives, videos and articles.

In the last two years, over 300,000 visits came from the Republic of Ireland, bolstered by a surge in traffic during the first COVID-19 lockdown.

The Open University is hosting a unique event at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) as one of several initiatives to mark its commitment to responding to the climate crisis.  

Want to study in a way which is different to many of your classmates.  A way which suits you and fits in with your life?

Studying with The Open University is a university option you may not have considered before. It’s different because you will study your degree online.

Businesses across Northern Ireland have already begun to change and adapt to the challenges of these Covid-19 times by adopting new approaches and methods to aid business continuity. One area which is now very different is the recruitment of new staff. How do you bring in new staff when your business is not back ‘in the office’?

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Ireland) recently held their first ever Creative Writing Competition and were delighted to announce the winners at a virtual prize giving ceremony held on 30 June, 2020.

The event was chaired by coordinator Dr Jennifer Shepherd (Department of English and Creative Writing), who thanked students for their enthusiastic support of the event, including participation in the writing master-classes offered in the run-up to the contest deadline.

11-year-old Tiernán Eviston from County Meath has been using his time in lockdown very wisely. Tiernán hasn’t stopped learning and has already completed 11 online courses from The Open University’s free learning site OpenLearn ranging from ‘An introduction to sustainable energy’ to ‘Square roots and powers’.