OPEN
UNIVERSITY
0347 FBA Report on Cranfield Collaboration
[This report describes the very fruitful collaboration planned between OUBS and Cranfield. Unfortunately, this was sabotaged – at the very last minute – by Leo Murray, Cranfield’s Dean!]
At the first meeting of the programme team, held on 13 July 1994, it was decided that the next meeting, to be held from 10.30 to 13.00 on Wednesday 21 September, would move directly to discuss the details of such a programme - the principles involved were already agreed. This paper, which was requested by the team, looks at some of the alternatives open to the OBS.
Indeed, perhaps the most important aspect of this programme is that, as reported in the minutes of that first meeting, there was unanimous support for the statement of principles encapsulated in the above 'mission statement'…
One issue, especially if the programme is eventually adopted as a 'national' standard, is the proportion of 'external' offerings allowed. We have previously set the requirement as half should be OBS sourced, and I would suggest that this remains the case; though I would also suggest that this could include offerings from the rest of the OU (which might pose problems on paper of resource/revenue transfers, but which would all ultimately benefit the OU). Of the rest, I would suggest we encourage one or two of the top business schools (such as Cranfield, who have already indicated their willingness to participate, and Warwick) to become 'partners' whose offerings would be included on our lists (as 'externals' however). Other institutions would follow the normal accreditation path - and the lists would be provided to counsellor not directly to the students.
As indicated earlier, the quality of the programme could, and should, be enhanced by taking as (specialist) partners the best of each of the field we might be involved in. The educational establishments (Cranfield et al) have already been mentioned, but the leading consultancies (such as Boston Consulting) might also be considered, and leading organisations in general (such as Shell and DTI). The 'product' thus should be seen as the work of a consortium of the most expert organisations in a wide range of fields - co-ordinated and managed by the OBS as much as delivered by it.
…COURSES
Only existing courses (OU & Cranfield) would be used, with the fellows as associate students (in the OU):
a) OBS COURSES
It has to be recognised that all OUBS offerings [adding up to as much as 2,600 hours of qualification] are half credit courses (each perhaps representing as much as two years of FBA 'qualification') but - in the absence of the examination - we might be able to spread each of them across two years of tuition.
b) OU COURSES
The main (suitable) OU courses [adding up to a total of 7,500 hours of qualification], for general application (marked *) or for enthusiasts in the subjects (especially where they are 1 credit in length - giving 4 years of qualification), might be:
SOCIAL SCIENCES FACULTY
D103* - Society & Social Science: a foundation course (level1/1 credit)
D212* - Running the Country (2/1)
D213* - Understanding Modern Societies (2/1)
D214 The United States in the Twentieth Century (2/1)
D215 - The Shape of the World (2/1)
D216* - Economics & Changing Economies (2/1)
D317 - Social Psychology (3/1)
DSE202 - Introduction to Psychology (2/1)
[1,600 hours]
TECHNOLOGY FACULTY
T102* - Living with Technology (1/1)
T202 - Analogue & Digital Circuits (2/1)
T203 - Materials (2/1)
T245* - Managing in Organisations (2/0.5)
T247* - Working with Systems (2/0.5)
T264* - Design (2/0.5)
T302 - Innovation: Design & Technology (3/1)
T362 - Design & Innovation (3/0.5)
T363 - Computer-Aided Design (3/0.5)
THD204* - Information Technology & Society (2/1)
TM282 Modelling with Mathematics (2/0.5)
[1,600 hours]
ARTS FACULTY
A102* - An Arts Foundation Course (1/1)
A205 - Culture and Belief in Europe 1450-1600 (2/1)
A206 - The Enlightenment (2/1)
A210* - Approaching Literature (2/1)
A214 - Understanding Music (2/1)
A220 - Princes & Peoples 1620-1714 (2/0.5)
A221 - State, Economy & Nation in Nineteenth Century (2/0.5)
A231 - Religious Diversity: Britain from 1945 (2/0.5)
A232 - Science & Technology in Everyday Life 1870-1950 (2/0.5)
A294 - Fifth Century Athens (2/0.5)
A316 - Modern Art (3/1)
A318 - War, Peace & Social Change 1900-1955 (3/1)
A319 - Literature in the Modern World (3/1)
AA301 - Philosophy of the Arts (3/1)
AS283 - The Rise of Scientific Europe 1500-1800 (2/0.5)
[2,400 hours]
SCIENCE FACULTY
S102* - A Science Foundation Course (1/1)
S203 - Biology: form & function (2/1)
S236 - Geology (2/0.5)
S246 - Organic Chemistry (2/0.5)
S247 - Inorganic Chemistry (2/0.5)
S271 - Discovering Physics (2/0.5)
S280 - Science matters - (2/0.5)
[900 hours]
MATHEMATICS FACULTY
M120* - Discovering Mathematics (1/0.5)
M121* - Using Mathematics (1/0.5)
M221 - Exploring Mathematics (2/0.5)
M246 - Elements of Statistics (2/0.5)
[400 hours]
CROSS FACULTY (U) COURSES
U206 - Environment (2/1)
U207 - Issues in Women's Studies (2/1)
U208 - Third World Development (2/1)
[600 hours]
c) EXTERNAL COURSES
In the first instance it might be advisable to limit our 'partnership' programme to just Cranfield. The relevant 'Executive Development Programmes' [shown with the 'standard' hours, which are twice the scheduled face to face level, totalling 3,800 hours] offered are:
Foundation Management Programme (200 hours - fee £6,050)
General Management for Specialists (200 hours - fee £7,900)
Senior Managers Programme (200 hours - fee £8,550)
The Cranfield Development Programme (400 hours - fee £12,250)
Director as Strategic Leader (100 hours - fee £2,875)
Strategic Management in the Service Sector (100 hours - fee £2,600)
Strategy and Strategic Management (100 hours - fee £2,100)
Managing Strategic Change (100 hours - fee £2,100)
Integrating Financial and Corporate Strategy (50 hours - fee £1,850)
Using Financial Figures in the Boardroom (100 hours - fee £2,150)
Integrating Marketing & Financial Strategies (25 hours - fee £725)
Strategic Marketing Management (100 hours - fee £2,500)
Effective Marketing Management (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Marketing for Service Businesses (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Marketing Industrial & Technological Products (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Marketing Plans (25 hours - fee £995)
Managing Creativity (25 hours - fee £725)
Developing Information Systems Strategies (100 hours - fee £1,975)
Implementing Information Systems Strategies (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Managing Information Systems Projects (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Business Process Redesign (200 hours - fee £2,995)
Logistics Management Programme (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Logistics Strategies in Europe (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Achieving International Excellence in Manufacturing (100 hours - fee £2,150)
Developing Project Management Techniques (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Developing Project Managers Skills (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Project Management in Service Based Organisations (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Management by Projects (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Managing Project Resources (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Managing People Effectively (150 hours - fee £3,300)
Organisational and Interpersonal Skills (125 hours - fee £3,150)
Managing People through the Stress of Change (50 hours - fee £1,200)
Managerial Effectiveness for Women (100 hours - fee £2,350)
Practical Skills for Managing People (125 hours - fee £2,550)
HRM Strategy & Policies (100 hours - fee £1,800)
Employee Relations Skills (100 hours - fee £1,800)
[total 3,825 hours]
Thus, even in the initial stages there would be an overall total of up to 14,000 hours of qualifying study on offer (140 years of qualification!); 2,600 hours from OBS, 7,500 from OU and 3,825 from Cranfield.
In subsequent years, once the volumes had justified further development, the first priority would be to improve the OBS position:
1) MODULARISATION OF THE EXISTING COURSES
The highest priority should be given to splitting the existing courses into 100 hour modules. This may not prove a problem for most courses, where the blocks (which are often relatively independent of each other) are already around this size - but may need introductory material to cover any missing elements. Such 'modularisation' should be targeted to cost less than £20,000 per module.
2) FACE TO FACE SEMINARS
We should use OBS academics (typically central academics, but also regional staff and tutors) to run face to face seminars (preferably of three days, 50 'standard' hours, length) in the core areas of the FBA (Update and Broadening of Management Knowledge). These should be run at prices matching those of Cranfield - allowing extra income for academics (and giving them invaluable exposure to senior management) as well as paying for more academics on the core programmes. These seminars should also be used to develop the new modules (see below).
3) NEW LOW RESOURCE MODULES
These should be short; to both improve the flexibility of the programme and to improve the flexibility of academic resource usage. They should, therefore, typically be around 50 hours (1/8 credit).
They should follow the 3/4th level models - and especially that of the MA in Education - with most of the teaching undertaken via set books and readers (co-published). Even the study guide (which should be short) might be co-published. The only television should be talking heads or lectures recorded (cheaply) in the OU studio - not by the BBC. Residential/Day Schools might be used (but fully costed).
Development should usually move through the face to face seminars detailed above, and where possible should also offer material for tailoring the other programmes. Target costs for such modules should be less than £25,000.
In addition, we should look to developments on the other fronts:
a) OU
We should persuade the other faculties to similarly modularise their most popular courses.
b) External Suppliers
I suspect we will not need to recruit further 'partners' beyond Cranfield (except for organisations such as Shell and DTI), but we will need (via OUVS) to accredit others.
PRICES
Cranfield courses already have, of course, set prices; from which we would receive a 'trade discount' on our fellows.
OBS modules should be held at least at the existing prices ; despite the removal of some costs. The higher level of service, in the form of more/better quality (i.e. central academic) tutoring and better quality accommodation, should be used to justify even higher prices .
A major problem may be the rest of the OU, where even the associate student prices are far below those we expect; even the MA in Education only charges around £500 per full credit! Again, we might raise these by the extra support elements; in particular with much lower tutorial groups and better accommodation.
hits