The significant piece of datum in this sort is not the headline or lead, which reports that staff are considering strike action as the Open University plans to shut down regional offices. But near the end of the story, we read that the student population has declined by nearly 20 percent, losing almost 40,000 students in the last three years. "At the same time, an £18.8m surplus turned into a £16.9m deficit." It's also interesting that more than half the article is about MOOCs, and the opposition to them. But it's worth noting that during the same period students in traditional classes were faced with significant tuition increases. The argument in the post is that you have to have the personal face-to-face experience. That sounds odd coming from the OU.
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