\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 Open University is an institution established in the UK in 1969 to enab
le mature students without qualifications to study to degree level without regular attendance. Open University teaching is based on a mixture of correspondence courses, TV and radio lectures and demonstrations, personal tuition organised on a regional b
asis, and summer schools. Throughout the university system, the number of mature students has increased massively in the past decade, and now numbers around 237,000, which is about 14.5 percent of students. They are older people whose academic potentia
l was unrecognised in the pre-Comprehensive secondary school system, married women taking the opportunity to increase their qualifications after the independence of their children, and increasingly, the redundant seeking a fresh start.\par
