OU in Ireland

Who we are, what we do

Flexible learning

We offer high-quality distance learning to students with a range of learning goals and provide upskilling and reskilling opportunities for staff through employers. Our students range in age from 17 to their 70s and beyond with an average age of 29 in NI and 31 in Ireland for undergraduate students.

Flexible study is core to our offer with 77% of our students in NI and 64% in Ireland, working either full-time or part-time in 2023/24.

Open to everyone

We are committed to widening access to higher education building on our founding principle of being open to everyone, regardless of age, income, geography and background. In 2023/24 20% of our undergraduates in Northern Ireland declared a disability, 24% came from the most deprived areas (IMD 1&2) and 73% had no previous HE qualifications reflecting our commitment to making HE accessible to everyone.

We are a Higher Education provider for the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Irish Prison Service. Around 160 students in secure environments study with us each year and we are proud to say we have students in every prison on the island of Ireland.

As part of the UK’s only four nations university, we are funded to teach students resident in Northern Ireland by the Department or the Economy.  The Part-time Fee Grant is available to students who have a household income of less than £25,000 gross per annum. In 2023/24 27% of Open University undergraduate students in Northern Ireland were in receipt of the Part-time Fee Grant.

For over 20 years, our Future Nurse Future Midwife programme has delivered a highly successful work-based pre-registration nursing programme in partnership with healthcare employers. The funded programme includes routes for those already working in healthcare support worker roles to become registered nurses. Our social care programme is also growing. Department of Health funded places for Health and Social Care sector employees vary between 150-175 places each year.

Thanks to the Department for the Economy’s Skill Up initiative, over the last four years we have supported over 7,000 students across Northern Ireland to access a range of fully funded post-graduate and microcredential courses in priority sectors.  Courses were aligned with real-world needs in areas such as digital transformation skills, business leadership and health.

Further Education Progression

The Open University in Ireland continues to deepen its strategic partnerships with Northern Ireland’s Further Education (FE) sector, helping more students take the next step in their learning journey.

Progression agreements are in place with all six NI colleges – opening clear and accessible routes from college to degree-level study.  These agreements help ensure students, particularly those from widening participation backgrounds, can build on their qualifications with confidence and flexibility.  Together, the colleges offer 51 OU validated programmes, and this will rise to 67 in 2025/26.

1,643 students enrolled on OU-validated FE courses in 2024/25 – marking a 27% increase year-on-year increase and demonstrating the growing appeal of this model of supported progression and blended learning.

LEARN AND LIVE

The Open University’s Strategy for 2022-2027

We engage with the Scottish Government and other key stakeholders in Scotland to ensure policy, funding outcomes and media coverage are favourable to the OU in Scotland and its students.