3 What does it mean to be an OU student?

What it means to be an OU student won’t be the same for everybody but there are certain things that you can expect from us, and in turn we expect from our students. These ways of working together are set out in the Open University Student Charter.

The Charter was developed jointly by the OU Students Association and the University and at its core are four principles. These are:

1. We treat each other with dignity and respect.
2. We aim to inspire and enable learning.
3. We share the responsibility for learning.
4. We work together to secure the University’s mission and to promote the University’s values.

These values are to be open to people, to places, to methods and to ideas; to be inclusive, innovative and responsive.

The overall message is one of a partnership, not of you and us but all of us, together.

The Charter sets out our general values, but sometimes you might wish to consult a full policy document, for example if you have a problem or need to make a complaint.

All student policy documents can be found in Student Policies and Regulations [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , as can the Charter.