Open University (UK) Top Rankings

The Open University (OU) is the United Kingdom's largest university and the largest provider of management education in Europe. It is incorporated by Royal Charter and hence its qualifications are recognised by academic institutions throughout the world.

The University is also recognised by a wide range of professional bodies. ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has an agreement with The OU to provide web-based learning opportunities for its ACCA members. A number of European professional bodies are building strategic partnerships with the University.

The Business School’s MSc in Human Resource Management has received accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). It holds the prestigious triple accreditations from the US-based AACSB International; the EQUIS quality kitemark from the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd); and the Association of MBAs (AMBA) for its MBA programme. In addition The Open University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education - an accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

OU has the following Faculties, Schools and Institutes: Faculty of Arts; Open University Business School; Faculty of Education and Language Studies; Institute of Educational Technology; Faculty of Health and Social Care; Knowledge Media Institute; Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology; Faculty of Science; Faculty of Social Sciences.

The OU and the UK government fund a range of financial support services to help students with the costs of studying.

Rankings:

- Ranked 222nd in the world according to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities (July, 2009).

- Placed among the world's top 500 institutions in the Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings 2009.

- Placed among the world top 200 universities for the following subjects: Arts & Humanities (190th globally) and Social Sciences (175th globally) in THE-QS Rankings 2009.

- 94% of the OU’s students mostly or definitely agreed they were satisfied overall, placing it 2nd among the 258 UK institutions taking part in the National Student Survey, published in September 2008.

- It achieved the second largest climb in UK research rankings in the Research Assessment Exercise 2008, with over 50% of its research rated as ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) and 14% as ‘world-leading’ (4*).

- Ranked 9th in The Economist's Distance Learning MBA Rankings 2008.

- Ranked 5th of all UK universities in the table for teaching quality published in the Sunday Times University Guide 2006.

- Rated top for student satisfaction (NSS 2006). Both the BBC and The Guardian put the University at the top of their league tables.

- Placed in the top five UK universities for teaching quality, ahead of Oxford and University College London (Sunday Times University Guide 2004).

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Kelvin Wong Loke Yuen is a highly experienced lecturer and writer. He is also a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator with many internationally recognized certifications, including an MBA and a Postgraduate Diploma from Heriot-Watt (UK's World-Class University) and a BCom degree from Adelaide (Australia's Group of Eight University). Follow him on: LinkedIn

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