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Open Access to Knowledge (OAK)

Our Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) programme gives people over fifty years of age an opportunity to study a topic of their choice for free. It was created to give people the chance to expand their horizons, realise their potential and achieve. As some OAK students will not have been in education since they left school over 30 years ago, the OAK programme helps students learn skills in researching, writing, presenting and using computers, in a friendly and supportive learning environment.

If you are eligible for the OAK programme - simply if you're over 50 - you can study any topic that interests you. You'll research, write and present your topic with full support from course tutors and support staff at each stage of the process. Recent topics include

  • notable women in Victorian Hastings
  • gender stereotypes
  • local development planning and regeneration
  • attitudes to health and nutrition since 1930

The programme is run on a part-time basis over 23 weeks at the university's Hastings campus from February to June.

If you are interested in applying to the OAK programme or want to know more, contact Wendy Philcox:

Whatever direction my career path takes me in after completing my degree I will never regret my time studying at the University of Brighton in Hastings. I will always thank the OAK project for giving me the confidence to realise I had the ability to study for a degree and that the Hastings campus has such a welcoming approach to life long learning.

Diane Addy, OAK graduate and subsequently BA(Hons) English Literature and Community History