THE OPEN UNIVERSITY DEGREE PROGRAMME : ISSUES, POLICIES AND IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

The idea to set up the Singapore Open University (SOU) was first mooted in July last year. Since then, the concept has gone through some changes, the most radical being its "privatisation". The Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) which was invited to run the programme, agreed to take up the challenge in June 1992. The Open University Degree Programme (OUDP), which is in collaboration with the Singapore Government and the Open University of the United Kingdom, UKOU, will be launched in January 1994 with a first intake of 500 students. This Academic Exercise examines the issues and policies surrounding the OUDP and the implications of each. The change in decision to let the OU be run by a private body has direct bearing on 2 areas of concern: whether the fees will be too high, and the accreditation of the degree. While the latter has been "resolved" with the recognition of the OUDP degree by the Public Service Commissions (PSC), the former remains a moot point. It is shown that, however, despite the high fee, the higher lifetime incomes to be reaped more than offset the costs involved. Another area that begs discussion is the role and function of the OUDP. One suspects that the OU was first, to meet a political need. But that aside, the OUDP serves an important role in complementing our educational system by acting as a net that catches “late-developers”, adults who could not afford a tertiary education when they were of the 'right' age, and others who have been precluded for various reasons. Lastly, this study also explores the basic dilemma of the OU: that of the concomitant tradeoff between equity, quality and attrition. The fact that the production of OUDP graduates is in line with manpower requirements of the economy and that resources are stretched imply an obvious bias toward goal(s) of low wastage (and high quality) at the expense of access.