 Fel Llyfrgellwyr sdwngysgweithryd nifer ravog llele i Llyfrgellwyr pfydd yn cyff gravesiciului o gychem o fel U-50, yserch yn g bolag yn arnyn nhw. Rwy dryer a cymryd y cychwyn i eisiau iawn i rydych i ddemydd idd, nid i diaw i sicrhau gwlleu y cwestiweid diddygau neu gydych yn clynydd iקu'r dnerod eich ddydig o enghraifftod mwy. I am honoured to open this evening's debate celebrating 50 years of the Open University. I would like to thank all members from across the chamber for supporting the motion and I also invite everyone to the reception tomorrow evening to further celebrate the positive impact of the Open University for individuals and communities across Scotland and the UK. It is over 55 years since Harold Wilson's powerful speech to a Labour conference in Glasgow on the white heat of technology. In that speech, he talked about expansion and higher and further education and expanded on plans for a university of the air. He described the changing nature of industry just as we now recognise the changing economy that we have inherited. In government, Wilson understood that rapid change brings challenges for the workforce and society, and it was also a government that promoted the importance of social mobility. Today is exactly 50 years since the Open University was given its royal charter. It might have been the idea of Harold Wilson, but it was the job of Jenny Lee, then minister for the arts, to deliver it. As an MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, I am very proud to be related to Jenny Lee and welcome that her contribution as an MP and in government has increasingly been recognised, including in the celebrations of the Open University's 50th birthday. Delivering the Open University wasn't all play and sailing, it was a radical idea that challenged tradition and privilege, but Jenny Lee was determined and tenacious in her pursuit of this vision. No doubt driven by her experience growing up in Fife, during a time when, for many, life was very hard and educational opportunity was limited, Jenny committed herself wholeheartedly to this project. In 1973, laying the foundation stone for the first OU library, she described it as A great independent university, which does not insult any man or woman, whatever their background, by offering them the second best. Nothing but the best is good enough. That is the quality that the Open University has been delivering for 50 years. It serves students across the whole of Scotland opening up opportunities for everyone, regardless of background, current circumstances or geography. Its flexible approach to study supports the ambitions of, for example, people who have caring responsibilities, people with disabilities or those living in remote or rural locations. There are almost 16,500 students across every part of Scotland, with more than 1,800 in my own region. Entry to our universities is increasingly competitive, and while we are seeing some contextualisation of entrance qualifications, there are challenging minimum entry thresholds. The Open University maintains an open entry policy, meaning that no previous qualifications are required for the vast majority of courses. That is as radical a notion today as it was 50 years ago, and challenges are perceived with them about a student's potential and ability to succeed. That approach of the Open University is egalitarian. It does not matter what school the student went to, what age they are, where they live—it is open to all. That was pretty radical. To open up the opportunities of higher education and the possibilities that come with that was an important legacy of a reforming Labour Government that is still going strong today. Three quarters of OU students are in work, while two thirds earn less than £25,000 a year. 22 per cent of students declare a disability, and almost a fifth don't have a traditional university entrance qualifications. That student profile is unique. It is one that reflects the desire to benefit from education from all sections of our society, and the OU provides the means to do so. Almost two thirds of OU and graduates in Scotland receive the part-time fee grant, a percentage that has steadily grown since it was introduced six years ago, and it excludes those on lower incomes from paying fees. It can be argued that those who do pay fees are paying a significant lower rate than fees paid in English universities. Combined with part-time OU students not being entitled to maintenance support, we need to be mindful that the financial costs of learning do not exclude people who are looking to benefit from the opportunity. The forthcoming consultation on part-time study is welcome. While at its core, the open university maintains its guiding principles that has modernised. Growing up in the 1970s, I can remember glimpses of the late-night OU programmes on the BBC, complicated equations, theories and lots of beards. However, the internet has revolutionised the open university. The free learning website OpenLearn has had more than 60 million visitors, while more than 8 million people have learned with future learning. The OU has also fostered relationships with national and regional partners. Within my own region, Babcock International, Diageau, Fife Council, NHS Fife, SSC and Scottish Water all sponsor students. Recognising that the benefit for the individual is also a huge benefit to the company who is employing them. In addition, the young participants in the school scheme enables six-year students to build skills and confidence by studying at degree level in their own schools and includes many schools across my region. At the inception of the open university, Harold Wilson envisaged it within the context of a changing industrial landscape and the growth of new technology. We have recently had debates on the increasing need to consider the jobs of the future and the skills that people will need to succeed in them and in our future society. So the open university is as relevant in this context as it has ever been. We have a rapidly changing economy and jobs market and we need to reinvigorate the critical importance of lifelong learning so that people in and out of work are prepared to adapt and thrive with the skills and knowledge that they need. I feel like there has been a contraction of these opportunities and we should take the opportunity of the significant birthday of the open university to reinfirm the importance of lifelong learning and be clear about supporting policies that will deliver it. To return to the beginning, the Royal Charter instructed the university to advance and disseminate learning and knowledge, an extraction that it can expect to be issued to a university. However, it also placed the responsibility on the open university to promote the educational wellbeing of the community generally, a much broader obligation, setting the OU on a social mission to make learning accessible to students and non-students alike. It is truly a university of the air, opening up education for all, extending opportunity to adult learners and cementing the idea of lifelong learning and second chances. It is more than an educational institution. In his 1963 speech, Harold Wilson said, I believe that a properly planned university of the air could make an immeasurable contribution to the cultural life of our country, to the enrichment of our standard of living. The open university has achieved this and much more. Presiding Officer, it is a pleasure to read this evening's debate. I wish the open university and all its staff and its students a fantastic anniversary year and I am confident that there are many more to come in the future. I first of all say to those in the gallery that it is inappropriate to show appreciation or otherwise. We move to the open speeches and speeches of four minutes please. Annabelle Ewing, followed by Oliver Mundell. Presiding Officer, I congratulate Clare Baker on securing this debate tonight, marking the 50th anniversary of the open university. It is absolutely appropriate that we in this Parliament should mark this momentous occasion. In so doing, we are afforded the opportunity to commend the pioneering and pivotal role of Jenny Lee in securing the establishment of the open university. That was in fact against a backdrop of opposition and scepticism from many of her colleagues and, indeed, much of the civil service at the time in the House of Commons. Although Jenny Lee did have an important ally, as her relative, Clare Baker, pointed out, the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. As MSP for Coutonbeath constituency, I can say that my constituents are rightly very proud of Jenny Lee, who was born in Lochgelly and was the ducks of Beath High School, and indeed started her political career as an MP for North Lanarkshire, representing at that time the independent Labour Party in Scotland. Presiding Officer, as we have heard, the Royal Charter, establishing the open university, which was granted on 23 April 1969, indeed has the open university, and I quote, to promote the educational wellbeing of the community generally. It is that wide remit that is at the very heart of the unique role of the open university. Indeed, it is not just about the promotion of learning and knowledge, it is also about ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to realise their potential through education. It really is a university that is open to all ages and that is open to all backgrounds and that is open all of the time. No entrance qualifications are required, and students can indeed study anywhere, the open university being the first university in the United Kingdom to facilitate distance learning initially. I do remember as my colleague Claire Baker by the use of the television, and it was always very interesting to try to puzzle out what was being shown to you late night on the television, but also by means of radio and correspondence, and then, of course, by online learning. Some 200,000 Scottish students have studied through the open university over the last 50 years, and I think that the statistic demonstrates quite simply how effective the open university has been in widening access to tertiary education. As far as my constituency of Cardinbeath is concerned, I was pleased to note that take-up is in fact above the Scottish average, and at the same time, nearly three quarters of those studying in my constituency are in fact in work. The accessibility of the open university is also underscored by the fact that around a fifth of the students have a disability, and it is heartening to note that as far as gender balance and STEM subjects is concerned, that is nearly being achieved, and I am sure that it will be achieved in short order. On financial accessibility, we have heard that that is encouraged by the fact that open university students can be classed as part-time students and so have access to a means-tested fee grant. Additionally, the open university's open-learn platform makes some 5 per cent of all course material available for free on their website, so people can see if a course is likely to be for them or not. Also locally, it is good to note that it is possible to study open university courses at 5 college. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this wonderful institution, I would like to pay tribute to Jenny Lee and to all who have worked so hard over the past five decades to make such a success of this unique educational institution. I would also wish to take the opportunity to recommend the open university to any of my constituents who are interested in broadening their education and in improving their qualifications, whether that is for personal development or for the development of their careers. I begin by joining other members in congratulating Clare Baker on securing this important debate. It is a great opportunity and I feel very privileged to take part and have the chance to say happy birthday to one of our most unique and precious educational resources. The open university has been pushing the case for excellence and equity in education since long before it was fashionable. I think that there are many people right across Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom who are very grateful for the opportunities that the open university has given them. Its values are right at the heart of what we are trying to do in Scottish education right now. Its mission statement and the work that it is doing is as important today as it was 50 years ago. It seems strange to be talking about an organisation at 50 that feels as if it is still coming of age and is still just as relevant and disruptive to the traditional ideas of education and is still as radical right now. I think that the open university, particularly in rural and remote areas in my constituency, is still doing a huge job of work to push other organisations and institutions to think about how they do things to develop online and distance learning. I think that most of all the open university is a great avenue of learning for non-traditional students, students who have sometimes missed out on other opportunities or who have work or caring responsibilities. I think that that provides a great levelling force in the educational playing field. More than anything, I think that it challenges people to think again about what university and study means. I have met constituents who have benefited from career changes and who feel that, as the employment and educational market has changed, the open universities provided them with an opportunity to avoid stagnation and make the most of their career and adjust their skills for a changing economy. I also know that there are many veterans who have come out of military service and that the open university currently has 2,000 former service personnel as students. I think that that is greatly to their credit again. It lays down a marker for others. I am particularly interested in the partnerships that the open university has developed with schools and businesses, with subject choice continuing to rumble on as a part of the educational debate and big challenges across the country. I am certainly aware of many young people in my constituency who have benefited from opportunities that the open university has been able to give them to take an interest in subjects that might otherwise have been unavailable. I think that it is through embracing new technology and innovative forms of learning that they have kept very much up-to-date and continued to reinvent themselves. I am too young to remember the days of things on television, but I have certainly been aware of the huge expansion of those resources since they have moved online. I am confident that we will be here in another 50 years. I hope that I will be talking about the success of the open university across the next half century. Richard Leonard, followed by Kenneth Gibson. I thank Clare Baker for tabling that important parliamentary debate. The open university stands as one of the Labour Party's greatest achievements. It has close associations with Scotland, with Jenny Lee, its driving force and Walter Perry, its first vice-chancellor. Whilst Harold Wilson later claimed that the plan for it was drafted between church and lunch on Easter Sunday in 1953, it was, as Clare Baker has said in Glasgow in September 1963, that the idea of a university of the air was publicly launched. The Scottish connections are strong, but we should not let that submerge the fact. I make no apology for saying that this is a distinctively Labour idea in its origin, with routes going back through the rich traditions of the Labour movement from charism through the Clarion clubs to the Workers' Educational Association, the ILP summer schools and the left book clubs of the 1930s and born of an unswerving belief that education was liberation. Not education reduced simply to serving the needs of the economy or the demands of the labour market, but a belief in the conception of the OU's chief architect Michael Young of education as not merely a stepping stone or a sorting device but as a good in itself, serving the general growth of humanity. Wilson's best biographer, Ben Pimlet, wrote, It was a brilliantly original and highly ambitious institution, which took the ideals of social equality and equality of opportunity more seriously than any other part of the British education system. Tony Bennett later said that Wilson was the real driving force behind it, he willed it, it was therefore unstoppable. But it was genuinely the first Minister of the Arts in British history, another Labour achievement who was given the task of bringing it to fruition. In 1966, Labour election manifesto called time for decision because the country was at a turning point, contained a section headed educational opportunities for all and the pledge to give everyone the possibility of study for a full degree. With the election one, the mandate was secured. As Patricia Hollis wrote in Jenny Lee, a life, it was an independent project, neither enriched nor constrained by whatever else was going on in further and higher education, superimposed on the department's priorities, led by a junior Minister with no reputation in education and with no educational support behind her, and which at best drew a studiously neutral response from her Secretary of State, who privately wished the scheme would disappear. Jenny Lee overcame all of this with passion and principle. She battled in Parliament, even in the Cabinet, and she defeated vested interests and naked class prejudice outside it, to ensure that this was a university open in access and compromising in its standards. It has undergone a difficult few years recently. Cuts and staff casualisation have had to be resisted by the OU's many supporters, by its students, its former students and the university in college union. That is precisely because it remains a university worth fighting for, with teaching methods worth defending, built on an idea worth standing up for. Passionate unity in action is how Michael Foote summed up the political life of Jenny Lee. This is her greatest triumph, and along with the national health service, this is Labour's most enduring legacy. We should mark today's anniversary by refreshing the ambition and the vision that it heralded. Can I remind those in the public gallery that they shouldn't be clapping, or cheering, or jeering, or anything at all? Thank you very much. I have Kenneth Gibson to be followed by Liz Smith. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm pleased to celebrate 50 years of the Open University and congratulate Clare Baker on bringing this debate to the chamber today. The Open University is not only world-renowned as an excellent educational resource, but is widely known for its unparalleled accessibility and inclusivity. For half a century, the OU has enabled and empowered many people to study a traditional institution to pursue higher education. We must recognise the leading role of then-Minister for the Arts, Jenny Lee, in establishing the OU and its determination to carry it through. The latest figures published by the OU showed that 37 per cent of the 217 students that live in my Cunningham North constituency are from the 20 per cent most deprived backgrounds and 52 per cent from the most deprived 40 per cent. Further demonstrating the OU's rightful reputation for broadening access to education, 71 per cent of students in my constituency are currently in employment while 27 per cent have a disability and 70 per cent are female. Those figures show that no matter your situation, a job you need to maintain, a dependent you must care for, a disability that limits your mobility, with the Open University, nothing is out of reach. Last year, 40 pupils from Ardrossan academy, Lars academy and at Matthews academy in my constituency participated in the OU young applicants in school scheme. That programme receives support from the Scottish funding council and allows the OU to offer fully funded places for S6 pupils from local authority schools under taking 10 and 30 credit modules. With subjects ranging from science, engineering, business studies, IT and computing, arts, mathematics and languages, YAS has helped over seven and a half thousand people across Scotland to bridge the gap between school and university, college and employment, encouraging independent learning and building confidence. Beyond the call of cases, those courses equip young people with essential skills needed to succeed in their future career pathway. Over the past 50 years, more than two million people worldwide achieved their learning goals by studying with Open University. Each row of their own unique story about the difference that it made to their life. Indeed, I recall a friend studying biology at a Russell group university who found a strict schedule of lectures and seminars to be unsustainable and out of step with how he learnt best. He left after just one year of study to work on an oil platform rescue boat but felt that he still had room to challenge himself academically. He completed a bachelor of science and mathematics with the OU by fitting in modules around his duties on ship. Then, when he returned to a life on land, his BSE opened doors to a professional career that should otherwise have been closed. That is just one example of how the OU's flexibility can change lives. As part of his year of celebration, the OU has released a series of photographs showcasing both the early days of its teaching and its contemporary students. Photographer Chris Floyd, who shot the portraits of current students, said that he wanted people to look at this collection and think that person looks like me. If there are people out there wondering how to follow themselves, I want them to see these photos and think that that could be me. Certainly, those photos tell that story. From Tracy Thorpe studying modern languages while out at sea serving on a yacht crew, to Stephen Acparbiol-Clementofsky getting a BSE in social science while serving a 16-year sentence for drug smuggling, to Zara Aledina, who became the UK's youngest ever law graduate at 15 after a degree with the OU. To Caris Williamson, who is congenital muscular dystrophy and is working towards her BA open honours degree, the students' photographs have each used the open university to unlock opportunity. Of course, thanks to the SNP Government last year, 60 per cent of Scottish OU students received a part-time fee grant, and that can only have made a positive difference to their education and, hopefully, their lives and careers. Thanks to the OU and its model of support, many people in Cunningham North and beyond are now studying, whereas deprivation, disability and a lack of time may have otherwise prevented them from taking up studies. I hope that this year of anniversary and the celebration of the OU will help to raise its profile and to spread the message that it is full of study and that higher education is an option for all, no matter where you live and who you are. Once again, I thank Claire Baker for bringing this debate to the chamber. Before I move on any further, there are still quite a few members who would like to speak in the debate, so I would be happy to accept a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes. I invite Claire Baker to move a motion without notice. Thank you very much. The question is that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes. Are we all agreed? Yes, we are. Good. Please, about that. That is there for agreed. I call Liz Smith to be followed by Gillian Martin. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I wholeheartedly welcome this debate that is being brought to the chamber by Claire Baker, not just because it affords us the opportunity to celebrate the past 50 years, but because it also affords us the opportunity to examine the crucial role that the open university will play in a fast-changing university sector in the future. Can I put on record the Parliament's thanks to Susan Stewart and all her officers in the way that she has led those changes? I think that it is a very crucial role, certainly a very challenging one, but her engagement with this Parliament, with parties from all different political perspectives, is second to none, and I'd like to thank her for that. This is a debate, as Claire Baker rightly said, about everyone in Scotland who wishes to undertake a degree, regardless of age, income, qualifications or geography, and in an educational world that is increasingly demanding greater flexibility and diversity, the open university could hardly be in a more important part of that education system. This debate represents an excellent opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the past 50 years, but also the many connections that the open university has made within Scotland and beyond. Much has been said about the origins and the speech that Harold Wilson made in Glasgow about the university of the air, and it was one very good speech. It was a politician from Fife, and the previous speakers have mentioned a great deal, rightly so, about Jenny Lee, whose efforts have played the most pivotal role in its foundation, and it is right that we celebrate all that achievement. However, Jenny Lee was not the only female politician to have played an important role in the OU's early days. After the foundation in 1969, the heath Government, very ill-advisedly, was thinking about making some cutbacks on public expending and that the OU might have to be closed down. That, however, was unthinkable for the then education and science secretary, Margaret Thatcher, whose arguments for its retention won the day in her cabinet, and thank goodness for that. Nowadays, as Annabelle Ewing pointed out, the Open University reaches across the whole of Scotland its royal charter. Over 200,000 students in Scotland, and it is a great privilege for us as members of this Parliament to represent so many people who participate so successfully in the Open University. It has a very positive role to play in widening access to higher and to further education for people in work or who have families or who live in some of Scotland's most disadvantaged and most remote communities. In each case, I have been particularly impressed by the quality of teaching that it provides. It has also been ranked in the top three universities in Scotland for student satisfaction for every year that the national student survey has been in existence, and I think that that is some fair achievement. Apart from the high academic standards of which it should be very proud, it adds diversity and flexibility for so many students, including those that members have spoken about who are more mature and part-time workers as well. That is a very important part of what the Open University can achieve. It has, of course, a very proud history when it comes to its deliberations about what the future should hold. I thought that the recent Love Part-Time campaign was an excellent example of that. I know that Clare Baker will be hosting tomorrow's event. I have the privilege, as my colleague Ian Gray did, to focus on the amount of time that the Open University can give to so many of the new approaches in education, and I am sure that tomorrow's night's event will be a huge success. I finish my remarks with reiterating my thanks to Clare Baker and to Susan Stewart and to so many of our officers, whom I think have done an outstanding job. I wish them every success in the future. Gillian Martin, followed by Ian Gray. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would also like to congratulate Clare Baker on securing this debate. That is the first time I have heard that she was actually related to Jenny Lee. That is quite incredible. Whenever I think of the Open University, I think of the opportunity that is provided for those who have found access to higher education difficult. Today, there is a lot of government policy associated with widening access. In many ways, the OU has been ahead of its time. It has been successfully widening access for hundreds of thousands of students in Scotland for 50 years. We will all have our own family stories of the Open University. I would like to mention one member of my wider family, who was an OU graduate. That is my late father-in-law, David. My husband's father came from a family who had never had anyone who had been to uni, like so many Scottish families in the 1950s and 1960s. Despite being the ducks at school and having both the brains and the qualifications to get into uni, David was expected to get a job when he left school. David became a journalist in the local paper, married and had children. A few years on, with a young family and a full-time job at the daily record, he set his sights on going into the BBC. David knew that, in order to make his ambitions a reality, he had to get a degree. Of course, in the late 1960s, early 1970s, there were no video recorders, much less the internet, so anyone working full-time would also have to put in a night shift to watch open university programmes and study. His family remembered Dad coming in from work than staying up most of the night just to go back to work again the next day. However, on graduating from the OU, armed with his degree, David progressed through the ranks of BBC Scotland and also achieved BAFTA success for the coverage of Pope John Paul's visit to Glasgow. The open university gave David that access to a fairly glittering career that might otherwise have been outreach of a young father from a motherwell mining family. Take David's story and multiply it by thousands of working-class Scots, and you have a fair idea of why the OU is held in such fond regard. All universities change people's lives, but the OU can change a whole family's social and economic trajectory and the wider social justice landscape. There are many OU graduates that had to combine study with family responsibilities or full-time jobs, or look to the OU because the background was not conducive to entering a conventional university. However, the OU has also given access to thousands of students who also have physical mobility difficulties, as so many members have mentioned. It is not just a case of studying anytime, but the OU allows a person to study anywhere in their own way and with the level of support that they need. The open university's contribution to the rights of people with disabilities cannot be overstated, and its contribution to those in rural communities miles from any other university campus is significant. Jenny Lee, the founder of open university, has been mentioned. She is a Scottish hero, and her legacy of pushing the boundaries of what is possible in education continues to this day, and I imagine that she would be well impressed with the leadership of Susan Stewart, as am I. We know that the OU is at the forefront of developing and using innovative technology, like virtual reality, to facilitate learning for all, to reach further and further out to make higher education possible for those who previously found access to challenging, or those who are simply attracted to the high quality of the OU's offer. The OU changed the lives of my husband's family and therefore indirectly touched mine and my children's, and it continues to spread its influence all over Scotland. Happy birthday to them, and here's to another 50 years in which they will lead the way in widening access and changing lives. Iain Gray, followed by Stuart Stevenson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Let me add my congratulations to Claire Baker for bringing this evening's debate. I also echo those words that we've heard of the pride of the Labour movement in the idea of the open university, and in Scotland's pride, too, of the role that we played through Jenny Lee and Walter Perry, and indeed the initial speech from Harold Wilson being made in Glasgow in the creation of the institution of the open university. Of course, we should acknowledge and congratulate the institution and the idea of the open university, but I think that it's important, too, that we acknowledge the students across those 50 years. The institution and the idea makes their study possible, but it is the students and their determination that makes it happen. As somebody who struggled sometimes with the self-discipline of studying at university in spite of having everything laid on a plate for me and the opportunity to study full-time, I am constantly astonished by those who, while working part-time or sometimes full-time, are able to study at the open university, perhaps to upskill their qualifications for their job, but often just for the love of learning and the subject that they are studying, or those who, with caring responsibilities or living with disability, still have the self-discipline, the determination to make their study work and succeed. I take my hat off to those students. 200,000 Scots, as we have heard, across the years, like Gillian Martin, my late father-in-law was one of them, a proud open university graduate. Those are the people who have seized the opportunity and made that vision real. Annabelle Ewing was right when Harold Wilson first talked of a university of the era of virtual university without entry qualifications. The idea was derided and mocked by somebody. What a powerful and transformative idea it was and how it has developed as society has changed. Unlike Oliver Mundell, I am certainly old enough to remember those black-and-white beards, Corduroy and Kipper ties, which also featured in the television lectures of the early days. It is important to remember that, while the open university now works through the modern technology of the internet and virtual reality, it still works very closely with the BBC, for example, in the production of important programmes like the Blue Planet. Claire Baker mentioned that Jenny Lee was very clear that the open university should not be second best to traditional universities. It is also worth noting that, in one statistic in particular, 40 per cent of open university students study STEM subjects and 49 per cent of those students are women, the open university, frankly, streets ahead of the other institutions in the university sector today. I want to close by, as Kenny Gibson did, paying some acknowledgement to the YAS programme, the young applicants in school scheme. Some years ago, back in 2015, there was an event in this Parliament celebrating the success of the YAS programme in Scotland. I was delighted that one of the speakers was Mary Livesey, who was a student from Preston Lodge High School in my constituency. Preston Lodge is one of the most active schools in the YAS programme, which, as Mr Gibson described, gives S6 pupils the chance to study at a university level while still at school. Mary was very clear about what a useful and powerful experience that was. New ideas all the time. Congratulations on the 50 years past and look forward to the 50 years to come. Stuart Stevenson, followed by Liam Kerr. Thank you, Presiding Officer. First, let me congratulate, as others have, Claire Baker and her relative, on securing this debate. Of course, I wish the open university all the best on its 50th birthday, a significant milestone, and I congratulate them on their work. The Labour Party has achievements that I can respect, and this is certainly one of them. The days of the launch of the open university at home, we had a 12-inch black and white television, which had one channel. It had been originally purchased for viewing the co-ordination in 1953, and, when I left home, it had still not been replaced. The technology that we were using is a world away from the technology that every one of us has on our mobile phone, to make in technical terms, if not in content, broadcastable material. However, the motto of the open university being open is the important one, and that underpins the open university's academic strategy. However, to be open to what? To people, places, methods, ideas, the very exemplification of inclusion and possibility, to be open to opportunity, to be open to inspiration. I myself did a short focused course on systems behaviour in 1972, and I still have the course book from that course sitting among my other academic books on my shelf. I admit that it has been a little while since I got off the shelf to revisit it, but it was a value to me at that time, and it contains many truths that matter to me now. John F Kennedy said that the educated person knows that knowledge is power, more so today than ever before. He knows that only an educated and informed people will be a free people. The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. The open university is a very important part of helping people to learn about society, to learn about a wide range of subjects, but more critically, perhaps, to learn about how to keep learning for the rest of their lives. To be able to weave that learning process into your working life through the open university is very important indeed. The briefing that the open university has given us highlights a couple of things that are right up to the minute in terms of where we are now after 50 years. The open learn free website has 60 million visits so far, and the massive open online course, the MOOG platform that they use, is a very effective way of drawing people into the world of learning through the internet. That is important and of huge value. There are people who have yet to find the open university. Hopefully tonight's debate is part of spreading the world, people whose talent and skills are as yet undiscovered, and who the traditional methods of learning will simply not reach. The open university has been transformational for many, and it will be transformational for many more. Education is open to all in Scotland. We recognise the value of that through free education. They are important in delivering education and to society as a whole. Like Ian Gray, I struggled with the self-discipline of full-time study. Perhaps I did not struggle as hard as Ian Gray. My mother was so relieved when I finally graduated that she bought my girlfriend a present because she knew who pushed me over the line at the end of it. Education for all regardless of what road we take must remain open to all, and the open university is a vital part of our learning infrastructure that supports that. The last of the open debate contributions is from Liam Kerr. I wanted to make a short and rather imprompt to you personal contribution to this debate, celebrating 50 years of the open university. I want to particularly focus on the accessibility in the open to all ethos. The open university claims to have 16,500 students in Scotland, and for more than a decade I have been one of them. I took several years of flirting with the OU before and with the idea of study before I committed to study with them. There were a number of questions in my mind, or reasons not to pick up the phone. Could I afford it? I discovered yes, because the courses are extraordinarily good value and there are loads of grants and support schemes that one can avail oneself of. Would I need to pre-qualify for the courses that I wanted to do? Generally, the answer was no, because there is an open entry policy, which means that there are no entrance qualifications required for the vast majority of courses. Did I have the time, given that in those days I had a full-time legal job and then a young family? Again, it turned out yes, because of course the whole emphasis is on flexibility and allowing you to study wherever and whenever it suited me. Of course, deep down there was the question in my mind, would it be any good? Would the materials and the teaching be up to scratch? Well, emphatically, yes. This is the fourth university that I have studied at and, to be fair to the others, the other three were some considerable time ago. The fact is that the materials and calibre of the teaching staff at the Open University are second to none. I signed up to study, sometimes because I was just interested in the topic, sometimes to further my career, sometimes both, and in that time I have studied amongst others European history from 1400 to 1900, upper intermediate French, the weather, an MBA, and now crime and justice, which, as long as I don't do anything stupid in the next couple of months and get through the dissertation and final exam, will give me another honours degree. During that time I've shared residentials with like-minded students of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds in places like Warwick University, Cannes in Northern France and Brussels, as well as day schools at various universities. I've learned a huge amount and achieved qualifications which will help me both in here, have helped me in my previous career and no doubt will in the future, but above all, I've had great fun doing it. Yes, I wanted to be here to celebrate 50 years of the Open University and to wish it all the best for the next 50 years, but I also wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for all that it has done for me and to encourage anyone watching this debate who might be thinking about studying perhaps for their career for future opportunities or just for the sheer joy of learning to pick up the phone or go on the website and just see what's offered because you won't regret it. I now call Richard Lochhead to respond to the debate for around seven minutes, please, minister. Thank you. First of all, many thanks to Clare Baker for bringing this motion to Parliament and allowing us the opportunity to reflect on the Open University's many achievements in its first 50 years. I think that the number of speakers this evening and passionate contributions illustrates very well the high value that members attach to the Open University, so tonight's a great opportunity for us all to join together to wish the Open University a happy 50th birthday. I should say of course that 1969 is a vintage year and it's a tremendous year in which to be born and I can speak from personal experience and I was delighted that Oliver Mundell said that at age 50 you can still be coming of age and be radical and disruptive at the same time, so I very much took comfort from Oliver Mundell's comments, but the university's first chancellor, Geoffrey Crowther, described the purpose of the Open University as one that was open first as to people, open as to places, open as to methods and open finally to ideas and this statement continues to define what sets the university, the Open University apart and the growth of the university has been incredible. 25,000 places were available to students in its first year in 1971 when it started to taking enrolments and since then the OU has welcomed over 2 million students across 157 countries so that's a real phenomenal footprint across the globe in terms of promoting higher education and 16,000 Scots as one of the members mentioned enrolled in 2017-18 alone and 86 per cent of those enrolled went on to positive destinations thereafter. Many members have spoken about the students and referred to some stories from their own lives or their own constituencies. I should say that I had the privilege last year of attending the graduation ceremony of Ian Steven, a student from Elgin who overcame the challenges of multiple disabilities to achieve a master's in science. Hearing from his friends, his family and fellow students at the ceremony, I was left in absolutely no doubt about the scale of his achievements and the importance of the Open University in supporting him along his student journey. I should say that the director of the Open University in Scotland, the formidable and impressive Susan Stewart that many members have paid tribute to this evening, was there in Elgin with her team to take the ceremony, to have a home ceremony in Elgin so that they could be there and ensure that Ian Steven was able to have a graduation ceremony. What we see today is a clear example of what makes this Government, Scotland and Parliament proud of our universities. As many members have said, the role of our universities have never been more important. With such a huge role in ensuring that we have a highly educated and skilled population able to adapt to the needs of a rapidly changing economy, that is vital to our country's future prosperity and our wellbeing. That is why improving education and closing the attainment gap is our top priorities. A good education is important for its own sake, as Richard Leonard said, and it also contributes to the health and happiness and fulfilment of the individual and wider society. It is clear from the contributions that we have heard today from across Parliament that the Open University embraces those ambitions and shares a common purpose with the Parliament and the Government. The commission on widening access was clear that all parts of the education system would have to work together to achieve the ambitious target of ensuring that 20 per cent of students entering university come from Scotland's 20 per cent most deprived backgrounds by 2030. Social justice and equality of opportunity are at the heart of everything that the Open University does, and widening access to higher education is the ambition in which it was founded. It has indeed blazed a trail as far as widening access is concerned or has been ahead of the game in terms of what Gillian Martin is also referring to. In either round of a fifth of its undergraduate entrance in Scotland, join the Open University without typical higher education entrance qualifications and with a similar proportion also living in our 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland. The OU's open admissions policy, flexible delivery, bridging programmes of schools and articulation agreements with colleges and geographical reach demonstrates its commitment to that widening access agenda. The commission on widening access also recognised that further work was required to support equal access for other groups of learners as well. Therefore, we should commend this evening the Open University's high proportion of undergraduate entrance with disabilities and the wide range of support services and facilities that it has offered to those students. Those examples provide clear evidence that they are getting something very right in terms of that unique, flexible approach to learning and the commitment to delivering education for all. Of course, as Clare Baker said, universities do operate in a globally competitive marketplace. Global shifts in economy, increasingly based on the knowledge and skills, makes the contribution of our universities very pivotal to the country's future success. We all know that Scotland is at the open, welcoming and inclusive country. We need to ensure that our universities can continue to compete globally, and that is why it is important to note that more than 7,000 international students are directly studying with the Open University. The Open University's long-standing partnership with the BBC and its development of open educational resources, which many members have referred to, has allowed it to reach a global audience. OpenLearn, the OU's free learning resource website, has over 58 million visits since it launched in 2006. In that global context, the Government is also fully aware of the value of STEM learning to Scotland's intellectual and economic future and recognises that STEM is a key tool in solving many of the big issues facing the planet. Like Ian Gray, I also welcome the fact that more than 40 per cent of the OU's students in Scotland are studying STEM subjects, and Ian Gray made an important point that the high proportion of those students are female. Another of the Open University's strengths lies in its delivery of high-quality, flexible work-based learning, which is imperative to, again, the future of the Scottish economy. In Scotland, we all know about the expansion of graduate apprenticeships, and that provides more opportunities for people to combine their academic degree with learning in the workplace. The OU has adapted likewise to employer needs, incorporating its open educational resources in the workplace and collaborating with Skills Development Scotland to offer graduate apprenticeships in cyber security, IT, business management and software development. Open University recognises the value of allowing students to work and learn at the same time, with around three quarters of its students in Scotland in full or part-time employment. We are running out of time and there are many other areas that I could highlight for the Open University of playing such an important role in the very important agendas and higher education in this century. I think that we should finish by saying that Clare Baker reminded us of the importance of the renowned Scottish MP Jenny Lee, the daughter of a co-miner from Fife and student of Edinburgh University, whose vision and tenacity was crucial to establishing the Open University that millions have benefited from over the past 50 years. I, as the minister, am confident that the institution will continue to build on Jenny Lee's legacy and match her determination to provide education to future generations of all backgrounds who wish to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential. Let me, on behalf of the Scottish Parliament, thank the Open University, all the students, the tutors, the staff for all their considerable contributions to our country's growth and wellbeing and wish them well for this year's celebrations and their continuing endeavours. That concludes the debate. The meeting is closed. You may show your appreciation now.