4 <strong>Sesame</strong> <strong>April</strong>/<strong>May</strong> <strong>2002</strong> Issue 208Readership surveyH ave your say on <strong>Sesame</strong>We ’ re conducting a readership survey tosee how S e s a m e can serve you better. Pleasetake a minute to complete and re t u rn theq u e s t i o n n a i re. If you have online access it wouldbe a great help to receive your form electro n i-c a l l y. It will also save you time. <strong>The</strong> form isavailable at: h t t p : / / e l s a . o p e n . a c . u k / s e s a m e /re a d e r s . h t m . Altern a t i v e l y, complete thequestionnaire below and send it to the <strong>Sesame</strong>Office, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Open</strong> <strong>University</strong>, Walton Hall, MiltonKeynes, MK7 6AA by Friday, June 7.We hope readers will be happy tocomplete this survey, but we know howbusy you all are. So as an incentive, thenames of all those who let us have theircompleted forms, either by post oronline, will be entered in a prize draw – with10 winners each receiving a £20 book token.<strong>Sesame</strong> currently appears six times a year. Do you read it...Cover to coverMost of itSome of itSkim itNone of itHow do you feel about this frequency?It’s about rightI’d like more issuesI’d like fewer issuesWhat do you do with <strong>Sesame</strong> when you’ve finished reading?Save every issueKeep it for a few monthsThrow it away/recycle itShare it with family, friends or work colleaguesBelow is a list of features which appear regularly in <strong>Sesame</strong>. Pleaserate how useful/interesting they are to you.Un i ve rsity newsStudy support art i c l e sC o u rses info rm a t i o n / u p d a te sOU re s e a rch fe a t u re sTrave l l e r’s ta l e sBook rev i ewsVC ’s viewTV tra i l e rsRe a d e rs’ lette rsFi fth columnVox Po pAnnual course re s u l t sReader holidaysC o mpetitions/special offe rsAd ve rt i s e m e n t sVery useful/Not useful/interestinginteresting5 4 3 2 1OU Student, the official publication of the <strong>Open</strong> Un i ve rsity St u d e n t sAssociation (OUSA) appears inside <strong>Sesame</strong>. How useful/interestingdo you find it?Very useful/Not useful/interestinginteresting5 4 3 2 1Please rate the following statements<strong>Sesame</strong> keeps me up to datew i th what is happening at myu n i ve rs i t y<strong>Sesame</strong> helps me feel part ofthe wider OU communityI read <strong>Sesame</strong> to know whato ther students or ALs ared o i n g / s ay i n g<strong>Sesame</strong> helps support me inmy studies th rough re l evanta rticlesO ve rall I am happy withS e s a m e’s qualityHave you responded to an advert in <strong>Sesame</strong>?StronglyStronglyagreedisagree5 4 3 2 1Regularly Occasionally NeverHave you ever considered taking a reader holiday?YesNo<strong>Sesame</strong> is now available on the inte rnet too. Which of the fo l l ow i n gis true for you?I prefer to receive a printed copyI cannot easily access it onlineI would be happy to see <strong>Sesame</strong> published only on the internetI would prefer to have both print and online versions availableWhat, if anything, would you welcome more of?What, if anything, would you like to see less of?Is there anything else the university could do to make <strong>Sesame</strong> moreuseful to you?NAME:CONTACT PHONE NUMBER:EMAIL ADDRESS:ADDRESS:POSTCODE:
P s ychology is to pfor new gra d u a te sPsychology degrees topped the popularityleague amongst this year’s 10,000 new OUgraduates.Eight hundred graduates will receive named degrees inpsychology from the university at ceremonies taking placethroughout the UK from <strong>April</strong> – around one twelfth of the total.And of these, 624 are women.This year also marks the award of the first law degrees to103 people who enrolled in the Law Programme, run incollaboration with the College of Law, which began in 1997.Once again the new OU graduates come from every walkof life, from many parts of the globe, and with a wide rangeof educational backgrounds. <strong>The</strong> youngest is 17 and theoldest 86.Among the 10,000 success stories is Peter Bradley, whoused his OU science studies to switch from accountancy tomanaging a nature reserve.It was early pressure to get a ‘safe’ job which causedhim to follow his head rather than his heart and go intoaccountancy, he said. He is now site manager of Rye Meadsin Hertfordshire, with a budget of over £1 million. “Before Ijoined the OU I never thought this type of career was open tome,” he said.Jean Nicol-Maveyraud put the OU’s claim to be ‘open as toplaces’ to the test when she travelled with her husband’s job andher OU courses to Gabon, Brunei, Indonesia and Switzerland.She said: “Studying taught me to write and now I have writtenfor a Swiss newspaper and contributed to a website.”And there was a double success for Helen Yates who usedthe OU’s career service to capitalise on her degree by findinga career in publishing. She said: “I thought about this type ofcareer in the past but I really don’t think I would have had theconfidence to apply for anything in this field before the OUcareers advisers cemented my vague ambitions.”Success stories of OU students wereread by more than 15 million peoplelast year – and yours could be next.A new report by the university’s MediaRelations team shows 350 press articlesabout graduates – almost one a day –appeared in local and national papersand magazines, reflecting not onlythe outstanding achievements of OUstudents, but also of the university’spublicity machine itself.Students expecting to achieve theirPeter BradleyYour chance to hit the headlinesL i b r a r i a n sare on callStruggling to find theinformation you need rightaway? A new service fromthe OU library may have theanswer.Librarians on Call allows you toget instant help while you are onlineand chat your query or problemover with a member of the learnersupport team.Available on a trial basis until<strong>May</strong> 31 from 9am-5pm Mondayto Friday the service requiresno special plug-ins or downloads.Simply click on the <strong>Open</strong> Libr@rysite at: h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n . a c . u k /l i b r a r y, then onto the LibrariansOn Call icon.This will launch a window inyour browser where you can typein your question and chat onlinewith a librarian. Alternatively,you can telephone for help on+44(0)1908 659001.degrees this year will be offered similaropportunities to get their achievementsinto their local press – and earn deservedpublic recognition for their years of study.“It takes so much hard work anddedication to earn an OU degree,” saidGary Spink, Head of Media Relations.“Our students deserve to be the centre ofattention. We can help them to getrecognition for all that hard work.”Forms are sent out in the autumninviting people to take part in thecampaign.Your help is needed to help theuniversity shape its race equalitypolicy – which should herald a newphase in the OU’s commitmentto combating racial discrimination,promoting good race relations, andsponsoring an increasingly diversestaff and student body.While the Race Relations AmendmentAct requires the OU to develop such apolicy, the university sees it as anopportunity to build on existing wideningparticipation initiatives, according toAllan Cochrane, Pro-Vice-Chancellor(Students, Quality and Standards).He told S e s a m e: “Our aim is to gobeyond developing a racial equalitypolicy to identify the steps we will be takingto ensure our commitments are morethan just words and can be translated intopractice.“It should enable us to bring togetherpolicies and action plans that areLast year 12,000 students werecontacted and 3,500 students took up theopportunity for publicity. This meant1,100 individualised press releases weresent to local newspapers and radiostations – the year’s biggest singlepublicity exercise for the Media Relationsteam, part of the Communications Groupbased at Walton Hall.“Because the OU makes a genuineimpact on the lives of individuals, ourgraduates make great human intereststories for journalists,” said Gary.Our commitment to racialequality enters new phasecurrently dispersed across a range of areasand to ensure that they are more effective.”Professor Cochrane, who will chair aspecial Racial Equality Advisory Sub-Committee set up to champion change,said it was important to get views from asmany OU students and staff as possibleabout what the policy should look like.“We also want to know from people,whatever their ethnic background, abouttheir own experiences within <strong>The</strong> <strong>Open</strong><strong>University</strong>.“We want to know whether and in whatways you feel your position within theuniversity has been affected by yourethnic background. Do you feel you havebeen advantaged or disadvantaged, andif so, how?”Please send your comments toMargaret Stewart, Room 113, North SpurBuilding, <strong>Open</strong> <strong>University</strong>, Walton Hall,Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, or email themto PVCSQS-GEN@open.ac.uk as soon aspossible.Issue 208 <strong>April</strong>/<strong>May</strong> <strong>2002</strong> <strong>Sesame</strong> 5NewsNews in briefC o mpanies onlineS I X T Y per cent of businesses are already using, orconsidering using, online training for their staff.Research from the university’s corporate arm, COROUS,not only revealed the size of the shift in attitudes to staffdevelopment, but showed that among the 1,021 organisationswith more than 500 employees who were surveyed, the OUcame out top of the list of most trusted suppliers for onlinelearning packages. Thirty per cent of those surveyed hadalready used online learning, whose advantages they saw asconvenience, flexibility and staff being able to learn at theirown pace and in their own time.It’s great@papworthGREAT@PAPWORTH is a programme developed by <strong>The</strong>Papworth Trust, dedicated to helping graduates withdisabilities into employment. <strong>The</strong> programme is a tailor-madeservice and is available to S e s a m e readers living in, orwishing to work in, the East of England – Peterborough, Norfolk,Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Herts and Essex.Based at Papworth Everard, just outside Cambridge,the European-funded programme offers employmentopportunities, targeted work placements, career developmentworkshops and full support while on the programme.For details email: great@papworth.org.uk or call 01480357289.A modern conceptT H E OU’s distinctive logo has been branded ‘a modernclassic’ in a survey of university logos. “For a brand thatmanages to reflect the radically innovative concept that hasdefined the university for over 30 years, look no further thanthe <strong>Open</strong> <strong>University</strong> logo,” commented Jim Bodoh, director ofinternational brand consultancy at Citigate Lloyd Northover.“<strong>The</strong> mark still looks fresh, modern, accessible and utterlyunpretentious – all qualities supported by the institution’smission and market.”Peter Napier winnersT W O physics students have just been awarded the first everPeter Napier prizes, in memory of the student who left a sum ofmoney to the OU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.Caroline Fowler-Wright of Stoke Prior collected her prize ofa book token for the best performance on S207 <strong>The</strong> physicalw o r l d, while the award for the best performance on a levelthree physics course went to Jacqueline Drew of Fleet.Presenting the prizes for 2001 study, Professor of AstronomyBarrie Jones said the prizes would be awarded annually infuture.Po stcode lotte ryWHERE you live will determine whether you are likely to beprosecuted for certain offences, according to new researchfrom the OU.Professor Gary Slapper, Director of the OU’s LawProgramme, has uncovered a ‘postcode lottery’ when it comesto offences such as not sending your child to school, driving adefective vehicle, benefit fraud and animal cruelty.Professor Slapper’s research also highlights a gulf insuccess rates in private prosecutions: while the Inland Revenuesecured 99 per cent successful prosecutions, other agenciesachieved less than 35 per cent.<strong>Open</strong>ing up to ITTHE <strong>Open</strong>ing Up IT database is now open! A comprehensiveguide to learning centres which offer IT access to OU studentswho do not have a computer, or who have suffered acomputer breakdown, is available at: w w w . o u i t . c o . u k. Orstudents are invited to contact their regional centre who willhelp locate the information they need on OUIT.<strong>Open</strong> Day <strong>2002</strong>F O R those planning to visit their university on <strong>Open</strong> Day,Saturday June 22, the programme of events is now availableat www.open.ac.uk/open-day .Limited camping facilities are available as usual for visitorswanting to make a weekend of it. It is vital for campers to bookin advance, contact OU Estates at: est-openday@open.ac.ukor write to Gill Coppock at the Events Office, <strong>Open</strong> <strong>University</strong>,Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA.
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