I thought what I would do this evening is to talk briefly about the Open University - under several different headings. First, let me give you the background of the development and I will try to do this without driving the foreground, underground. The idea of an Open University was first mentioned by Mr. Harold Wilson when he was Leader of the Opposition in 1963. At a conference held in Glasgow, Mr. Wilson expressed his concern about the growing problem of students leaving secondary schools with university entrance qualifications but finding it impossible to get places in the universities. Mr. Wilson saw this as a waste of valuable educated manpower and proposed a "University of the Air" to counter it.

Keywords

Open University · history · open education