Cardonald signs articulation agreement with the Open University
02 February 2010
A new partnership launched recently, between The Open University in Scotland and Cardonald College Glasgow, will give local people access to one of the country's most flexible and comprehensive learning packages.
The partnership agreement links up Cardonald College Glasgow's suite of higher education qualifications to The Open University's extensive range of courses and degrees to create progression routes between the two learning providers. This means that local people will be able to benefit from multi-optional learning programmes that offer them a range of ways to develop their skills at the different stages in their lives.
Anyone studying HNC, HND or a range of other courses at the college will be able to count credit points from their studies towards an Open University degree. This will help them to build on the knowledge and skills they've already gained, and in many cases to reduce the length of time it takes to get a degree. Find out more at the Open University's College Routes website.
Peter Syme, Director of The Open University in Scotland, explains the rationale behind the partnership. "In today's economic climate lifelong learning is an essential tool in helping people to stay one step ahead in the labour market. They need to have access to flexible, affordable ways to upskill and reskill when they need to in order to ensure their skills stay current and relevant.
"This partnership gives us the opportunity to bring together Scotland's leading provider of part-time university education with a college in the south west of Glasgow," he said. "This gives us the reach and the expertise to contribute directly to the skills and learning needs of individuals and employers throughout the area."
Many college/university progression partnerships link to a limited number of specific learning pathways. The OU/Cardonald College Glasgow agreement gives current and former college students access to the OU's entire range of nearly 600 courses. From this they have the option of working towards a degree in a specific subject area, or of tailor-making a degree profile to suit their individual interests.
The flexible, part-time nature of OU study means that it is likely to offer particular benefits to people who have studied part-time at the college to fit round their other commitments, or who are looking to commence or remain in employment while they work towards a degree. The progression opportunities offered through the new partnership are open to former Cardonald College Glasgow students irrespective of how long it is since they studied at the college.
The partnership also offers considerable benefits for local employers, by offering a one-stop-shop for many of their training needs and supporting their employees to develop their skills ‘on-the-job'.
Commenting, Eleanor Harris, Vice Principal for Learning & Teaching at Cardonald College Glasgow said: "At Cardonald, we are dedicated to giving our students as many opportunities as possible to progress onto university, and our new link with the Open University further enhances this. For many of our students, such as adult returners, studying a degree with the Open University suits their lifestyle and this new agreement will help more students progress onto a distance learning degree."