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Changes to policy and curriculum

Academic Regulations (Taught Courses) 2016 - 2018 (February 2016 update)

Warning: the content within this page reflects the information available to students in the 2015/16 academic year. As such, this information may no longer be factually accurate.

In February 2016, a number of changes were implemented to regulations which form the basis of the registration agreement between Open University students and the University, setting out what they have to do to become and remain a student of The Open University studying a taught course.

These changes will affect all students who:

  • are studying an Open University taught course which starts in or after August 2016
  • are registered on a qualification during the 2016/17 academic year, even if they're not studying
  • have declared a qualification intention prior to 1 August 2016 and remain a student of the University during the 2016/17 academic year.

A taught course may be either a qualification including any module studied as part of that qualification, or a module studied as a standalone course.

These regulations do not apply to students studying towards a research degree or studying a non-credit bearing course (also known as a short course).

The changes made

The following old regulation documents have now been consolidated into the new policy document: Academic Regulations (Taught Courses) 2016.

  • The Student Regulations 2014
  • The Module Regulations 2014
  • The General Qualification Regulations (Registered Qualifications) 2014
  • The General Qualification Regulations (Declared Qualifications) 2012
  • Schedule A to the Qualification Regulations (Registered Undergraduate Qualifications)
  • Schedule A to the Qualification Regulations (Declared Undergraduate Qualifications)
  • Schedule B to the Qualification Regulations.

The Academic Regulations (Taught Courses) 2016 also includes material transferred from the specific qualification regulations for Registered Qualifications, in order that these documents may be simplified.

The consolidation of these regulations has required restructuring and ordering of the regulations, changes to titles and numbering of regulations and editing to remove duplication and redundant clauses to improve the clarity and consistency of the document.

Please talk to your Student Support Team if you need any further information. You can find out how to contact them on Contact the OU.