Open University are shutting my course down...

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I about 1/3 into a Degree at the moment, and I have just gone to pick my next course.

As it turns out they have made an announcement that the degree I am studying towards is shutting down by December 2014 and I have to have all 360 points by this date.

I currently have 120 points (or will have after the final assignments in my current courses). To get the final 240 points for the final degree I will have to do 3 courses at once (most with Exams) in Sept, then in Jan, then again in Sept. Basically meaning I will be doing 6 courses at once, not easy or practical.

Work are paying for all the courses so far but may not continue to support this and I can afford £1000 every 6 months to do the rest of the courses!!!

Anyone else come across this, or have any ideas. I am going to spend this evening going through it all, but I am at a loss of what I can do except go mental at the amount of work I have in front of me.
 
yeah this isnt anything new on the OU, there will be an 'alternative' route that you can take to gain a similar Degree. the Degree you end up with will most likely be a better option for employment.

dont worry, phone or email them discussing your options/concerns, now you know this.

i can pretty much say for certain, you will have no worries after one phone call.

i know cause i had this exact situation at the start of a computer science degree, where they dumped modules i needed to progress.
 
Move to a different course, seems most often when they remove a degree they open up one in a similar area but streamlined often or, generally made better by removing one or two modules and creating better more up to date ones.

Switch to an open degree and continue to do as many of the modules are on offer that would be the same as on the degree as it currently stands, maybe move to modules that are more relevant.

Bit more difficult with work funding it as, they might be overly anal and demand the degree with the same name and decide an "open" degree even with the same modules isn't good enough.

Speak with the OU, see which modules are being removed, ask them if its being replaced with a like degree, and if not which modules would need replacing and which modules would be a good substitution, then find out from work if that's acceptable.

AFAIK the way funding works these days is you can get all the tuition upfront anyway, so you could move to doing whatever you wanted, get the tuition loan yourself, and then you'll have a fairly low repayment to make on the tuition and likely more/better pay raises due to having the qualification, so it should still be worth doing.
 
What degree are you on? I can possibly look into this for you.

I'd be very surprised if the qual was announced as being withdrawn only now.
 
What the above poster said - happened to me last Sep with my Employment Law and Trade Relations course. Gave them a quick call and they high lighted different components to choose from. I'll end up with a slighly differently titled qualificaton at the end that's all.
 
B13 - IT and Computing is what I am working towards at the moment.

They have replaced it with B62 Computing and IT.

The courses I currently have are M150, T175, M255, Working on M253 and M257.

I am just trying to figure which can count towards it!
 
OK, re-reading the entire description I may be able to count most of these courses towards the new degree.

PANIC OVER!!! I will post back here after I work it all out the wording is crazy on these things! They shouldnt let you start a course if they are closing it 2 years after!
 
B13 - IT and Computing is what I am working towards at the moment.

They have replaced it with B62 Computing and IT.

The courses I currently have are M150, T175, M255, Working on M253 and M257.

I am just trying to figure which can count towards it!

You can count all of it. If you go on the B62 website you'll see the following paragraph:

"* If you have already studied the discontinued module M255 (30 credits) and M257 (20 credits) you may count these in place of M250 (30 credits) and include the additional 20 credits of study as part of the free choice element of this degree. Alternatively you may count M255 and M257 and M253 (10 credits) instead of M250 (30 credits) and count 30 credits against the Level 2 optional modules listed below. Please see individual module descriptions for final presentation dates."

Either ring your regional centre (I'm guessing you're region 6 as you're in Luton) on 01223 364 721 or the Qualifications and Ceremonies office on 01908 653003. They can better explain it over the phone than I can by forum post :)
 
B13 - IT and Computing is what I am working towards at the moment.

They have replaced it with B62 Computing and IT.

The courses I currently have are M150, T175, M255, Working on M253 and M257.

I am just trying to figure which can count towards it!

Surely all of them will considering the name change implies a slight shift of focus towards academic computing instead of practical...
 
You can count all of it. If you go on the B62 website you'll see the following paragraph:

"* If you have already studied the discontinued module M255 (30 credits) and M257 (20 credits) you may count these in place of M250 (30 credits) and include the additional 20 credits of study as part of the free choice element of this degree. Alternatively you may count M255 and M257 and M253 (10 credits) instead of M250 (30 credits) and count 30 credits against the Level 2 optional modules listed below. Please see individual module descriptions for final presentation dates."

Either ring your regional centre (I'm guessing you're region 6 as you're in Luton) on 01223 364 721 or the Qualifications and Ceremonies office on 01908 653003. They can better explain it over the phone than I can by forum post :)

Thanks mate, great work. I just read that, but its still a complicated course to work out.

I will call them tomorrow to settle my mind!
 
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