Jim Mulholland was one of the first Open University students in Northern Ireland
A retired teacher and one of the first Open University students in Northern Ireland has reflected on changes in education here over the past 50 years.
Jim Mulholland from Lisburn was a physical education teacher and said his Social Sciences course at The Open University as part of its class of 1975 helped keep him fresh. He was reflecting on his time in education as The Open University marked 50 years since its first Belfast degree ceremony this week.
Over 300 local students, graduating in subjects ranging from Nursing to Forensic Psychology, crossed the stage at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall on Tuesday afternoon, cheered on by family, friends, and one of Northern Ireland’s first ever OU graduates.
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Since its foundation, The Open University has been a bridge in a divided society, enabling study through bombings, blackouts, curfews and most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.
To mark 50 years of the OU here, Jim reflected on his “very enriching” experience. The 78-year-old said: “I was a physical education teacher, and The Open University enabled me to branch out and teach sociology… it kept me fresh. I would have become stale and a bit complacent without it.”
Graduating with a first-class honours degree in Social Sciences, and with newfound confidence, he later applied and was accepted for a Fulbright Teaching Exchange to Portland, Oregon, an adventure that remains one of his proudest achievements.
When he first enrolled with the OU in the early 1970s, Northern Ireland was a very different place. Back then, amidst the challenges of conflict and division, there was no Internet, no laptops, and distance learning meant mail order textbooks and BBC lecture broadcasts as course companions.
He said: “With the BBC television programmes, you were able to listen to the top lectures from all around the world… top economists, top sociologists, seeing their perspective on the world. I remember the unit tapes dropping in through the letterbox with a clunk. The materials were exceptionally good.
“I look at my grandchildren, and they’re unbelievably competent in this new world. I find it quite strange.
“Not that long before I retired from teaching, they’d put a new computer suite into the school, and I remember standing there thinking, ‘My God, this is something from Star Wars.’ The world of chalk and talk has gone.”
John D’Arcy, Director of The Open University in Ireland, said: “For over 50 years, The Open University has helped people in Northern Ireland achieve their ambitions, often in extraordinary circumstances.
“From the early days of delivering study packs through postal strikes and conflict to today’s digital classrooms, our mission has remained the same; to make higher education open to all. We’re immensely proud of the many generations of students, tutors and staff who’ve made this possible, and it is an honour to celebrate them all today.”
For further information on Open University courses, visit open.ac.uk.
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