BA/BSc Open degree
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Degree
- Code
- BD
- Level
- Undergraduate
- Made up of
- 300 or 360 credit points
Description
Each year, more than 40 per cent of all OU students who graduate do so with the Open degree and our graduates are fiercely proud of this – the Open degree is part of what makes The Open University unique.
An Open degree allows you to take courses from any of our undergraduate subject areas. There are two main types of Open degree – a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or a Bachelor of Science (BSc) – they both share the qualification code BD. You can study an Open degree with honours or without honours.
The advantage of this degree is that it gives you the chance to choose what to study across a wide range of subjects. You can follow your personal interests, which may develop and change as your studies continue. You can also pursue career needs that may be in more than one subject area, or you might want to combine personal and career interests.
So, if you want to develop both your information technology and your Spanish language skills, or combine humanities with engineering and management, you can. You have considerable flexibility over the combination of courses you can choose.
An Open degree allows you to develop and change your interests as you go on. So it’s possible for you to gain a BSc that includes several courses in the Arts or a BA that includes some science courses. Whether you get a BA or a BSc will depend on the balance of courses you’ve taken. And it can be awarded with or without honours. A transcript giving you a detailed record of the courses you took and the results you achieved will accompany the award.
And if you have already completed some study at higher education we may be able to give you credit that you can count towards an Open degree (more than to a degree in a named subject).
If you have already completed a Foundation Degree, you can ‘top-up’ to a BA/BSc (Honours) Open degree by studying further courses, at Level 3 (see our Topping up your Foundation Degree website for further details).
Planning your studies
There are no entry requirements for an Open degree but you must be suitably prepared for study at undergraduate level. If you’re new to study or to the OU, we recommend that you start with a course at Level 1. Level 1 courses are not a preliminary to undergraduate-level study but very much part of the degree itself. They help you develop good study habits and general learning skills as well as introducing the special requirements of part-time study and the OU's unique multi-media teaching system. Students on these courses are given more help with preparation and more tutorial and counselling support than is available on most other courses; there are also more tutorials at a wider choice of places.
Level 1 courses also provide the broad base of subject preparation that you are assumed to have before you register on many Level 2 and Level 3 courses. We recommend that you take Level 3 courses only after appropriate Level 2 study. Please ask our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you’d like help in planning this very flexible qualification.
For a BA or BSc Open degree:
- You need 300 points to get a degree without honours, of which at least 180 must be above Level 1 and, of these, at least 60 must be at Level 3.
- You need 360 points to get an honours degree, of which at least 240 must be above Level 1 and, of these, at least 120 must be at Level 3.
The University wishes to enable you to use the OU course credit you are awarded in as many ways as are academically relevant and appropriate. At the same time, we need to ensure that each qualification awarded testifies to the completion of a certain minimum amount of work that has been completed, and is being counted, uniquely for that award. For an Open degree without honours you must include at least 100 points from OU courses that have not been counted in an OU diploma or other first degree you have been awarded.
For an Open degree with honours you must include at least 120 credit points from OU courses that have not been counted in any other OU qualification you have been awarded. If you have graduated with an Open degree without honours this requirement is reduced to 60 credit points.
A BA or BSc?
Many of our courses are equally suitable for inclusion in either a BA or BSc; some are more suitable for one or the other. The degree you get will depend upon the balance of courses you have chosen.
For a 300-point BA Open degree you need:
- at least 150 points from courses that are suitable for a BA and, of these, at least 60 are above Level 1.
For a 300-point BSc Open degree you need:
- at least 150 points from courses that are suitable for a BSc and, of these, at least 60 are above Level 1.
For a 360-point BA (Hons) Open degree you need:
- at least 180 points from courses are suitable for a BA and, of these, at least 120 are at Level 2 or higher, and of these 120 points at least 60 are at Level 3.
For a 360-point BSc (Hons) Open degree you need:
- at least 180 points from courses are suitable for a BSc and, of these, at least 120 are at Level 2 or higher, and of these 120 points at least 60 are at Level 3.
The information in the course descriptions will tell you which category each course is in. Briefly the categories are as follows:
Courses suitable for a BA
Normally all courses with a course code that includes the letters A, B, D, E, K, L, M, U, W
Courses suitable for a BSc
Normally all courses with a course code that includes the letters B, D, E, K, M, S, T, U, W
We have a general university regulation that prevents you from studying more than 120 points’ worth of courses (the equivalent of full-time study) in any 12-month period but, because of the demands that the courses in the degree will make on you, we in fact recommend a lower limit of 60 points, particularly in your first year. It is easy to underestimate the time and commitment needed for part-time study using open learning methods so we strongly recommend that you take not more than 60 points' worth of courses in your first year. As you become an experienced OU student you may decide you can increase your commitment.
There is no time limit for obtaining the required credit points for this qualification. However, from time to time the University may have to make changes to the structure and requirements of a degree. For example, new courses are likely to be introduced and older courses withdrawn. When this happens we’ll give you as much notice as possible and do our best to ensure that you can complete the degree according to the requirements in force when you began.
For more information about the Open degree, including Frequently Asked Questions, visit our Open Degree website.
Career relevance and employability
An Open degree can be a passport to a new career. If you want to plan, develop or change your career, the OU Careers Advisory Service can help you. To find out more, visit our Careers Advisory Service website or contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service. There is more detailed information in the OU careers publication OU Study and your Career. You can download it from the website or request it from the Student Registration & Enquiry Service. There’s more information about the career relevance of degrees on the national HE Prospects website. Over 70 per cent of the graduate jobs advertised there are open to graduates of any discipline.
If you’re considering teaching as a career, an Open degree could be just as valuable as a subject degree, as long as its content is sufficiently closely related to the national curriculum. Although an honours degree is not a requirement for entry to teaching, you may find that it’s helpful if you’re in competition with other graduates. You should check regulations for entry to teaching regularly, and look at our Becoming a Teacher publication.
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of this qualification are described in four areas:
- Knowledge and understanding
- Cognitive skills
- Practical and professional skills
- Key skills
Read more detailed information about the learning outcomes, and how they are acquired through teaching, learning and assessment methods.
Credit for previous study elsewhere
You can include up to 240 points of transferred credit in a 360-point Open honours degree. For a 300-point Open degree without honours, you can include up to 200 points of transferred credit. You can find out more on our Credit Transfer site.
If you make a successful claim for transferred credit, it may affect your choice of courses so we advise you to investigate this option as soon as possible.
Credit transfer details for this qualification:
Classification of your degree
On successful completion of the required number and type of courses you will be awarded a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree and will be entitled to use the letters BA (Open), BSc (Open), BA (Hons) (Open) or BSc (Hons) (Open) after your name. If you qualify for an honours degree it will be classified either as first-class honours, upper second-class honours, lower second-class honours or third-class honours.
You will also receive a transcript giving a detailed record of courses studied and the results. You will have the opportunity to attend a degree ceremony to collect your award certificate.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the Award Regulations and the Student Regulations.
Award Regulations
- Introduction to the Award Regulations
- General Award Regulations
- BA/BSc Open degree
- Schedule A to the Award Regulations
Student Regulations
The Student Regulations (including the Code of Practice for Student Assessment and the Code of Practice for Student Discipline) are available on our Policy Documents for Students website.
How to register
To register for this qualification, read the description and check you meet any specific requirements (for example, some of our qualifications, require you to be working in a particular environment, or be sponsored by your employer). Then select the course you wish to study first and ensure it is suitable for you before following the registration procedure for that course.
About this page
An undergraduate qualification in Arts and Humanities, Business and Management, The Open Programme, Computing and ICT, Childhood and Youth, Environment, Development and International Studies, Education, Engineering and Technology, Health and Social Care, Languages, Law, Mathematics and Statistics, Psychology, Science and Social Sciences.
Study explained
- Credit points
- - show how much study is required to complete a course or qualification. One credit point represents roughly 10 hours of study.
- Level
- - indicates how difficult a course is. Undergraduate study starts at Level 1.
- Financial support
- - find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.
- Study explained
- - all you need to know about studying with the OU.
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