You Said, We Did
How your voice has made a difference
This page provides an opportunity to see the valuable feedback received from students across a wide range of communication channels, and to see what the OU has done in response.
Please note this video is now a couple of years old so some people no longer have the same title. The current Students Association leadership can be seen on their website.
Choose a topic from the drop-down list below to see how students can have an impact on their university experience and be empowered to help shape the University. Next time you are asked to give your opinion, you know that the OU is taking this feedback seriously and will respond.
You said...
Scholarship Plan Consultation:
Scholarship outputs are important for professional development and career progression and would like the external focus to be improved.
We did...
We have included specific reference to the importance of external recognition for scholarship outputs that will align with promotion criteria and practice.
Student Consultations
Posted on:
You said...
Scholarship Plan consultation
We do not need to the focus on employability as many may not wish to focus on career progression.
We did...
We removed the appendix focussing on employability as we felt this distracted from the overall intention of the document. Instead this is used as an example in Section 6.3.
Posted on:
You said...
We don't like it when there is a longer than expected delay in receiving a response to a query
We did...
We have put checks in place to ensure an appropriate response time is mentioned in automatic message and that these are being met.
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You said...
Information on the Help Centre isn't clear enough to explain the differences between TMAs, emTMAs and EMAs, and we don't understand the important distinctions between them.
We did...
We have flagged this as a priority area that needs to be addressed; we are working closely with colleagues in Assessment, Ceremonies and Qualifications and the faculties, given the level of student concern.
Posted on:
You said...
We would like more ways to communicate directly with the Student Support Team at a time convenient to us
We did...
We extended the opening hours of Student Support Teams to 8:00am-8:00pm Monday to Friday and 9:00am-5.00pm on Saturday. We also expanded our use of web-chat across different parts of the service, so that students could get immediate information and support.
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You said...
Paying for international exams is arduous and very old fashioned
We did...
We introduced an online booking and payment system which makes it easier for you to apply and pay for your international exams.
Posted on:
You said...
We can’t always find certain information in the Help Centre, e.g. the special circumstances form.
We did...
We have written some short help guides specifically for OU Students Association to use on their site and social media platforms, designed to help students find relevant information in the Help Centre
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You said...
When studying on an open qualification, we would like to see more information about new and future modules so we can see when each is ending and whether they are likely to be replaced by something similar.
We did...
We will work with the Open Programme and faculties to look at ways we can support this.
Posted on:
You said...
It would help if OU staff were aware of your caring responsibilities when they contact you
We did...
We are in the process of introducing a Carer Flag on the Student VOICE record so that staff can quickly identify students who have caring responsibilities and provide the necessary support and advice.
Posted on:
You said...
Our care experienced student reference group told us that they wished that they had heard of the Open University sooner in their journey and wanted us to do more outreach with care experienced people. They also said that they would have liked to know what support was available to OU students from the start of their studies as some of them hadn't made contact when they needed support as they didn't know who to talk to to.
We did...
The feedback from students has informed our Corporate Parenting Action Plan. Two of the actions we are taking in 19/20 as a result are: Tailored workshop on access to the OU to be delivered to organisations supporting care experienced young people Piloting welcome packs for care experienced students in February 2020 intake with information on sources of support.
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Latest Opportunities
Student Consultation Meetings 2025 - Get involved!
United Kingdom and online
National Student Survey 2025
Online/Virtual
