The Open University’s plan to move into in-person teaching at a new campus in Milton Keynes brings potential benefits for a thriving city “desperately needing a major university presence”, and comes as the lifelong loan entitlement brings potential further disruption to its existing model.
The OU said it would “prepare a business case” for “a multi-million-pound relocation of the OU’s existing campus in suburban Milton Keynes to a new site adjacent to the central railway station” and including “a proposal for a new ‘sister university’ serving students who want to study the OU’s famous online courses in person”, alongside continued distance learning.
In January, Milton Keynes City Council’s leader reacted angrily after the rejection of a bid to the government’s Levelling Up Fund to support a £400 million MK:U campus, a joint project between the city council and Cranfield University. The aim of creating a university with an undergraduate population “remains one of the key objectives we have as a city council”, Pete Marland said then.
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, had previously called for the OU to consider moving into in-person teaching to meet the demand for a fully fledged Milton Keynes university.
