• The Open University makes a significant contribution to lifelong learning in the UK.
  
  
• In its inaugural year, The Open University began with just 20,000 students.
  
  
• Today more than 220,000 learners study with us each year - a tenfold increase in just 30 years.
  
  
• The Open University also plays a major role in widening access. Most students are between 25 - 44 years old and the majority of undergraduate students are women.
  
  
• One-third of OU students had one A-level or less when they started with The OU.
  
  
• 24,000 undergraduate students are on benefit or very low incomes and received fee waivers from OU and Government financial assistance schemes last year.
  
  
• 10,000 students have a disability.
  
  
• More than 40,000 students are studying at postgraduate level and some 30,000 students are studying with The OU in countries outside the UK.
  
  
• Through increased funding from the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) in 2002, The Open University will be able to offer 4,000 more places to those wishing to study.
  
  
• The Open University is the UK's leading e-university with more than 200,000 learners connected to OU staff and fellow students. There are over 16,000 electronic conferences with more than 2,000 student moderators.
  
  
• Overall, The Open University handles some 51,000 connections between 7,000 different users every day.
  
  
• The Open University makes a major contribution to vocational learning and professional development.
  
  
• Over 70% of Open University students remain in full-time employment throughout their studies.
  
  
• Half of all OU undergraduate students study courses in maths, science, technology and IT.
  
  
• Over 30,000 employers have sponsored their staff to study with The Open University and 25% of all British MBAs come from The Open University Business School.
  
  
• Through its unique partnership with the BBC, The Open University provides over 800 hours of educational broadcasting each year. Each week some 3.5 million people watch Open University programmes.
  
  
• The Open University has achieved both excellence in teaching and a world-class research reputation.
  

On teaching:

• The Daily Telegraph survey (31 July 2002), ranked The Open University 9th out of 99 universities for the quality of its teaching, based on assessment by the Quality Assurance Agency
  
  
• The Times Higher Educational Supplement ranked The Open University in equal 6th place
  
  
• In a league table of teaching quality published in The Sunday Times (Sept 14th 2003) The Open University was ranked fifth out of all UK universities
  

On research:

• Four out of our twenty-six research areas rated as internationally excellent and nearly all rated as excellent at a national level.
  
  
• The annual turnover of The Open University is in excess of £300 million.
  
  
• Each year The Open University generates more than half of its own funding.
  
  

Graph - Student Growth 1970/71 to 2003/04