Plus ça change....

....the more clichés we get.

Given the way OUSA is reviewing stuff, I thought I would review some of the stuff written by John Daniels, probably one of the most-overseas friendly Vice Chancellors the Open University has had.

This speech to the OUSA Conference in 1998 is interesting http://www.open.ac.uk/johndanielspeeches/ousa98.html as is this 'follow-up' speech http://www.open.ac.uk/johndanielspeeches/postuma.htm about whether the O U has been true to its particular vision. From an overseas student point of view there are several lessons to be learnt (for one, how 'conservative' and 'clunky' yet idealistic both the OU and OUSA of then seem now - my personal view)but I found these two quotes interesting:

On the one hand we are a very international people. We are a trading nation at the centre of the land hemisphere and we put together the largest empire the world has known. Pro rata to population the British diaspora in the rest of the world must, in its extent, diversity and influence, have few rivals. Yet knee jerk insularity is never far from the surface. Ever since the war we have made a mess of our relations with the rest of Europe and xenophobia is a staple of both our tabloids and our broadsheets.
That’s rather like the OU. OUSA has tended to first oppose and then embrace the expansion of the University overseas. Some staff clapped when Sir William Stubbs, at this year’s Council lecture, implied that the OU should stay at home. Yet these same staff respond with enthusiasm to requests from foreign institutions to offer OU courses.


The OU's expansion overseas has often occasioned lively debate at OUSA conferences. The Executive has usually begun by opposing each new extension abroad but then given enthusiastic support as a new student constituency emerged.

This seems to me to be particularly relevant to the situation facing overseas students today - we need to smartly manage the Little Britain stuff and convert it into enthusiasm for internationalism.