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The Open University has come top of the National Student Survey for the second year running. How does it keep its students so happy? David Brill investigates.
"Choosing the Open University was one of the best decisions I ever made," says Kieran-Lee Evans, who is studying for a BSc in psychology.
Today sees the OU top the National Student Survey for the second year in a row. What is their formula for student happiness?
"Fundamentally, it is because we are committed to meeting the needs of our students," explains Will Swann, director of students.
"We have a more demanding student body than many other universities do, because they're older, they're more experienced, and they expect high standards of service. The quality of teaching is enormously important to us."
The OU is dedicated to distance learning, using cassettes, TV and the internet as well as books. The quality of these teaching materials and the course contents appear to be big factors in the university's success.
"I find their learning programmes interesting, clear and concise," Mr Evans says. "They're focused, as well - there's not much room for error in their materials."
The OU has around 180,000 students, almost all part-time. Among the undergraduates, 70% balance their studies with a regular job. Mr Evans had a full-time job before he enrolled and had to decide whether to study full-time or part-time and continue his job.
"My family are all quite academic and went to conventional universities, so you'd imagine that I would have done so too," he says.
"I'd say that, in the past, a place without a good rating in the league tables was not even a university in my eyes. But my experience has changed the entire way I view education."
Having previously studied at the University of Wales Newport, Mr Evans considered going on to St George's in London. Instead he chose the OU, and his barely contained enthusiasm leaves little doubt that this was the right decision.
"I'd highly recommend a degree at the OU to anybody. I'm trying to get my mum to do one at the moment," he says.
Student support is another area in which the OU has something to teach other universities. "I think a lot of people who don't know the OU don't realise [how much] individual support we give our students," Mr Swann says.
"We have a growing number who drop out of conventional university after a year or two, finish their degree with us and tell us that the amount and quality of support they got from us was higher than the support they had [before]."
Mr Evans echoes those sentiments. His experience was that conventional university assignments and study programmes often lacked focus. "Many students just do what they're doing without any set direction or purpose. The OU tends to be quite specific about what you're looking at and why you're looking at it," he says.
The university is aware of the risk of complacency after winning the student satisfaction survey again. However, Mr Swann says: "It not only confirms the excellence of what we do but is also a spur to us to improve. There will be plenty of people chasing us."
"Over the next year we'll be putting an increasing emphasis on being student-centred. We already use the web extensively, but we'll be using it more to increase accessibility. We'll also be putting a lot of effort into making ourselves more accessible to students from widening participation groups."
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