20 years of teaching law at The Open University

Celebrating #20yearsOULaw

It is with immense gratitude and pride that we are celebrating 20 years of Higher Legal Education at The Open University (OU). This journey began with 861 students studying the OU’s first law module W200 Understanding Law in 1998.

A lot can change over two decades. The OU Law School and teaching Law at the OU has come a long way. From starting with one law module to now teaching a full undergraduate Law qualification, a postgraduate taught offering and a postgraduate research programme.
Dr Anne Wesemann
Head of Department, The Open University Law School

The law programme grew considerably, with offering a total of eight modules in partnership with the then College of Law to form a full law degree. This partnership with the now University of Law continues into our celebration year while we launched our very first OU in-house produced law module in 2006 with W100 Law rules, rights and justice: an introduction to law. Excerpts from this successful module continue to be available on OpenLearn.

After launching its first Law postgraduate qualification in 2012, the OU Law School is home to the OU’s own full law undergraduate degree since 2014, now teaching around 7,000 students at any given time.

It is a time when we look back to remember those that played a vital role in enabling today’s success. The late Professor Gary Slapper, who was the first OU Law Professor and became the first Head of Law School, was convinced of the role The Open University had to play in Higher Legal Education. We can still today witness his enthusiasm and commitment when we look at five short recordings, where he and colleagues discuss the role of barristers, judges and justice itself.

We have taken our ‘lawversary’ as a moment to reflect on the last twenty years, but also to see where we are now and where we want to be in the next 20 years. This page will host a series of celebratory videos, showing the OU Law School contributors as they reflect and look ahead. Join us in celebrating #20yearsOULaw