Press Release
IT workers get career boost from The Open University
20 July 2005
Mobile phones, personal digital assistants, iPods, laptops, WiFi, ZigBee, email, digital cameras: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are everywhere. People who work with them now have a chance not only to learn how they work and what to do with them, but at the same time, add a valuable qualification to their CV, helping them to better jobs.
The Open University’s long history in giving higher education chances to everyone has a new chapter with the introduction of a new foundation degree in the competitive arena of ICT.
Like current OU student Ruth Kennedy, from near Chipping Camden, who learned about computers in the Army then moved on to private work as a programmer. After having two children, she took a part-time job as an ICT technician in a local grammar school. Now she’s enrolled in the Open University Foundation Degree because she “wants to go on to become a teacher.”
Ruth finds OU study perfect for her current lifestyle: “The OU is flexible. I don’t have to do work to a daily timetable, and so I don’t have to worry about childcare.”
The OU’s foundation degree in Information and Communication Technologies combines academic, practical and professional components. It is designed to meet the needs of employers and industry – but with a view to the future. It offers a new mix of skills directly relevant to work, together with the knowledge and understanding that employers and professional bodies are looking for. Vendor-based options add an extra dimension, with the CISCO Certified Network Associate (CCNA) study programme currently available as part of the degree, and links with other vendors’ certification programmes planned for the future.
Lizzy Daw from St Leonards-on-Sea works in a GP practice as an IT Administrator which includes troubleshooting the network and PCs, training and helping staff with use of a PC and clinical software, plus maintaining the practice’s website. “I’m already an OU student with four technical and maths courses in hand and I thought this foundation degree was a way I could get a valid qualification to enhance my career,” she said.
Lizzie likes the flexibility of the OU as well. After taking a computer course at a local college, at night, in the winter, she found OU courses allowed her the choice “to work at my own pace.”
The OU foundation degree helps people to progress in their careers as ICT professionals. It is a nationally-recognised qualification in its own right, and also opens up the possibility of advancing to the honours and masters degree level with The Open University.
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