With more than 27,300 OU MBA alumni worldwide and rising, Des Bourne fondly remembers being named as our 10,000th MBA graduate 20 years ago.
On the 20th anniversary of Des Bourne being celebrated as The Open University Business School’s 10,000th MBA graduate in July 2001, he outlines in his own words how his studies have helped him in the intervening two decades.
The Leading school learning through COVID-19 and beyond project, led by Dr Jacqueline Baxter, together with Dr Katharine Jewitt and University of Reading colleague Professor Alan Floyd, are investigating online learning and strategic planning through, and post, lockdown in English secondary schools.
Congratulations to Open University Business School PhD graduate Nicola Croxton who passed her PhD viva on 13 October 2020.
OUBS academic Professor Jo Brewis was a guest on the BBC's primetime television programme, The One Show.
OUBS’ Richard Blundel, Professor of Enterprise and Organisation, and Dr Sam Hampton, a colleague from the University of Oxford, have just co-authored ‘SMEs and Net Zero’.
How has collective leadership has changed in the digital world, and how has hybrid working has affected management/employee relationships?
Brian Matthews, Head of Transport Innovation at Milton Keynes Council, and the founding CEO of the pioneer Electric Vehicle maker on the African Continent (Kampala-based Kiira Motors Corporation), Paul Musasizi, joined OUBS academic Dr Charles Mbalyohere to discuss the use of electric vehicles in smarter urban mobility strategies on Thursday 17 June.
Recent PhD graduate Marco Distinto explains his research, which challenges the ideological discourses about migration by telling the human stories of migrants and the people who support them.
Coronavirus disruption to weddings has highlighted the complexity and antiquity of marriage law and reinforced the need for reform, a new study shows.

Tuesday, November 17, 2026 - 09:15 to 14:30
The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
MoneyFEST is the annual festival dedicated to funding and finance for SMEs in and around Milton Keynes.
Thursday, March 4, 2027 to Friday, March 5, 2027
The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom
Contact SOMF 2027 Team
The annual European convening of the service operations management research community; an event designed for deep discussion, new collaborations, and the open exchange of work-in-progress alongside finished research.