THE Open University (OU) has confirmed plans to close seven regional centres around England, including its Oxford site in Boars Hill.

They will be replaced with three larger centres as regional offices have been deserted by students, vice-chancellor Peter Horrocks said in an open statement.

He wrote: "The OU’s regional offices, such as the one in Oxford, have done a magnificent job over the years, but they form part of a structure from a past era.

"When students need support, they pick up the phone or send an email. Today, each of our regional offices is only visited by one student a day on average. That’s out of nearly 200,000 people who study with us.

"When students have queries about their course or financial matters, they already get advice from expert, subject-based teams who could be located anywhere in the country.

"The team in the Oxford office, for example, is just as likely to respond to a query from someone in Newcastle as it is from someone down the road in Bicester."

The University and College Union (UCU) says closing the seven regional centres, which include Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Gateshead, Leeds and London in addition to Oxford, could put 502 jobs at risk.

A series of strikes will begin tomorrow across the regional centres and several national offices and will continue over the coming weeks.

Oxford's Boars Hill centre is set to go on strike on Wednesday, December 2.

Of those who voted in a UCU ballot on strike action earlier this month, 72 per cent voted in favour, with 83 per cent backing action short of a strike, such as work to rule.

UCU Open University branch president Pauline Collins said: "Nobody wants to take strike action, but we feel this is our only alternative. The closures have been criticised by staff, students, former students and politicians. Our senate, which is the academic body of the university, rejected the plans as high risk and failing to support the mission of the university."

Mr Horrocks apologised for the loss of "great staff" in his open statement.

He wrote: "Indeed, we hope that as many as possible will be able to move with their jobs to the three larger centres we’re creating.

"But ultimately, this is about supporting our students who will see an improvement in the level of service they receive."

He added: "This is an important decision for the university and its students, as it means we can now introduce much-needed improvements to our student support services - something which simply isn’t possible across dispersed, smaller offices.

"No local services to students, including individual support for disabled students, will be withdrawn, however we recognise the impact this will have on affected staff.

"Our priority now is to maintain and improve services for our hard-working students while supporting our staff as we start to implement these changes.”