York College gains Open University Validation

The collaborative partnership means the College is now approved by The Open University as an appropriate organisation to offer higher education programmes leading to Open University validated awards.

Karen Robson, York College’s Head of Higher Education, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for our higher education students at York College University Centre. We have been working closely with The Open University towards this exciting new partnership.

“It’s our aim to maintain our high standards and not only retain OU validation for the nine validated courses, but assure validation of our future range of higher-level and degree programmes.”

Institutional approval and OU validated awards are conferred under the OU’s Royal Charter. The validated awards are of comparable standard to those earned by students directly registered with the OU and other UK universities.

Welcoming the new OU partnership, Lee Probert, Chief Executive & Principal at York College, said:

“As we partner with The Open University, we unite in our commitment to making higher education accessible to all who wish to study at it. 

“The Open University is founded on the principle of widening participation and this commitment is reflected at the heart of the College’s core mission.

“Through this partnership we look forward to developing our higher education offer and complementing the local offer, with high-quality provision available at York College.’’

Head of OU Validation Partnerships, Lorna Swinyard-Jordan, added:

“We are delighted to welcome York College as a validated partner of The Open University.

“This partnership supports our mission, in terms of the potential to extend our values of inclusiveness and widening access and participation further.”

The good news comes shortly after York College enjoyed one of its best ever results in the National Student Survey (NSS), published this summer. The survey asks students, from almost 400 UK colleges, their views on the effectiveness and quality of their courses.

Despite a year of Covid-related challenges for students and staff, York College received an overall approval rating of more than 85 per cent from its students. Amongst the results, more than 96 per cent of students claimed their course at York College was intellectually stimulating and had challenged them to achieve their best work. One hundred per cent of students said staff had made their studies interesting.