Showcasing the OU in the Scottish Parliament and beyond

MSPs joined a drop-in event in the Scottish Parliament in February 2022. The event gave MSPs the opportunity to meet with Open University in Scotland staff and find out how we have been supporting communities during the pandemic.

We also held a webinar in March 2022 with Scotland's leading public policy conference provider, Holyrood Events, exploring how Scotland can achieve an inclusive economic recovery. 

Drop-in event in the Scottish Parliament

After a gap of two years due to the pandemic, OU team members were back in the Scottish Parliament, to hold an informal drop-in event for MSP and their staff to come along and find out about our work and students. 

It was good to meet with a cross-party mix of MSPs and their team members, to talk about the experiences of OU students in their constituencies and regions. We also took the opportunity to restate our key messages:

• The OU is Scotland’s national widening access university, with students in every parliamentary constituency and region.
• The OU in Scotland offers students flexible personalised learning open to everyone at any stage of their life.

We’re grateful to Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP for hosting the drop-in event and to her team for all their work in facilitating the event. We will continue to engage with MSPs in the coming months. 

Webinar on Supporting Scotland’s Inclusive Economic Recovery

We held our second webinar in partnership with Scotland's leading public policy conference provider, Holyrood Events, on ‘Supporting Scotland’s Inclusive Economic Recovery’. Twelve months on from our first webinar, the panel examined what progress had been made, the opportunities to make further progress, and the challenges to be overcome. 

Panellists from Glasgow Chambers of Commerce, Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, as well as Lorna Slater MSP, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, joined Susan Stewart, Director of the OU in Scotland, in an engaging sixty minutes of discussion. The viewing audience participated too, with some challenging questions for the panel and constructive comments in the chat function. 

You can watch the webinar on demand.

Pictured from left to right: Susan Stewart, Director of The Open University in Scotland, with Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP.