更新时间：2024-01-19 19:58:27作者：欧曼老师
开放大学（OU）总部位于英国米尔顿凯恩斯，是世界上第一所高等教育远程教育机构
该大学的使命是“向人、地方、方法和思想开放”，旨在为那些错过了传统大学学习的人提供体验高质量学位水平学习的机会
它可以追溯到1964年，当时工党前领袖哈罗德·威尔逊将其作为大选宣言的承诺。当威尔逊当选首相时，他委托艺术部长珍妮·李监督该项目的实施。1965年，一个由教育家、大学副校长和电视广播员组成的委员会成立，1969年，OU成立。
牛津大学拥有近20万注册学生，是英国最大的学术机构，除了少数研究生外，大多数牛津大学学生都在校外学习
它有一个由5000多名导师组成的网络，并使用通信技术提供教学和评估。OU还开办团体辅导、走读学校和暑期寄宿学校。自成立以来，它已经接待了180多万名学生
该大学与英国广播公司有着长期的合作关系，每年联合制作多达25部电视和广播连续剧（最近的例子包括：《英国大战》、《战时农场》、《观星现场》和《爆炸理论》）
OU本身就是一个文化机构，曾出现在几部英国广播电视剧的情节中，如《弓箭手》、《布鲁克赛德》、《羽毛之鸟》和《火星上的生活》，而获奖女演员朱莉·沃尔特斯的第一个主要电影角色是在《教育丽塔》中与迈克尔·凯恩一起扮演一名OU学生
它也是少数几所不止一次（在1985年和1999年）赢得智力竞赛节目大学挑战的大学之一。
英国前首相戈登·布朗、广播员安娜·福特和女演员格伦达·杰克逊等众多知名人士曾为OU提供辅导
The Open University (OU), headquartered in Milton Keynes, England, was the world’s first higher education distance learning institution.
With a mission to be ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’, the university was founded to give those who had missed out on attending traditional universities, the opportunity to experience high quality degree-level learning.
It dates back to 1964, when former leader of the Labour Party, Harold Wilson, made it a general election manifesto pledge. When Wilson was elected Prime Minister, he tasked Minister for the Arts, Jennie Lee, with overseeing the delivery of the project. In 1965, a committee of educationalists, university vice-chancellors and television broadcasters was formed and in 1969, the OU was launched.
With almost 200,000 registered students, the OU is the largest academic institution in the UK and, apart from a small number of post-graduate research students, most OU students study off-campus.
It has a network of more than 5,000 tutors and uses communications technology to deliver teaching and assessment. The OU also run group tutorials, day schools and residential summer schools. Since its inception it has welcomed over 1.8 million students.
The university boasts a longstanding partnership with the BBC, co-producing up to 25 TV and radio series a year (recent examples include: Britain's Great War, Wartime Farm, Stargazing Live and Bang Goes the Theory).
The OU is a cultural institution in its own right, having featured in the plot lines of several British radio and TV series, such as The Archers, Brookside, Birds of a Feather and Life on Mars, while the award-winning actress Julie Walters’ first major film role was playing an OU student alongside Michael Caine in Educating Rita.
It is also one of only a few universities to have won the quiz show University Challenge on more than one occasion (in 1985 and 1999).
Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, broadcaster Anna Ford and the actress Glenda Jackson are among a host of well-known names who have tutored for the OU.
