The famous Buchanan Galleries steps were already filling up when I arrived at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall earlier today. All around me were smart suits and striking dresses, new haircuts and millimetre-perfect makeup. Even if you had no idea what was going on, you’d know that it was all part of something important.

But if you really didn’t know what had drawn this crowd, the sight of a traditional academic gown would have given it away in the end.

Walking up the steps, I quickly got the feeling that this was going to feel different from other graduations I’ve attended, including my own – but then this is a different kind of university: most courses have no entry requirements, and the programmes are completed using a flexible, distance-learning model.

It is, of course, the Open University (OU), an institution that, for more than fifty years, has helped to open up access for people who would not otherwise have been able to participate in higher education.

As the director said during her speech, the graduates in the room today had achieved something remarkable, “often against considerable odds.” Pretty much anyone who obtains a degree will have had to overcome challenges to do it, but that experience is absolutely fundamental to the work of the OU. It is, arguably, its whole reason for being.

During the ceremony I sat on my own, all the way up the back, looking down at a room full of people who had been told, explicitly or implicitly, that university is not for the likes of them – and who then went ahead and succeeded anyway, in spite of all those assumptions and stereotypes, thanks to the programmes and support available from the Open University.

I think that is why the whole event felt very much like a celebration of individual and collective triumphs over adversity, and a recognition of what people – all kinds of people – can achieve when given the right opportunities and the best support.

Watching the rows of people cross the stage to receive their award was a truly uplifting experience.

One recipient held her scroll aloft, shaking it in celebration like an athlete raising a trophy – she then gripped it tightly with both hands and held it to her chest as she made her way back to her seat.

A successful Masters student took the stage with vibrant African clothes under her robes. When her name was called she paused, knelt, and bowed her head to the floor, then stood up and half walked, half danced the rest of the way to receive her award, a mixture of gratitude and celebration radiating with each step.

One woman received an extra cheer when the OU director turned to the crowd as she handed over the scroll and told everyone that today was her birthday. A husband and wife were joined on-stage by (presumably) their son as they both received degrees in science.

Many turned to the audience to wave to guests on receipt of their award, but a few also clapped, as if recognising and celebrating all the help they had received from some unidentified, but utterly vital, family member or friend in attendance.

Sometimes when a graduate’s name was read out, and the applause began, little ripples of additional enthusiasm bubbled up: faster clapping that cut through the crowd; a burst of excited cheers or whoops or whistles (or a combination of all three); at one point, a cry of “We love you, Gary.”

The special guest at the ceremony was supermodel, author, broadcaster and activist Eunice Olumide, who received an honorary doctorate in recognition of her journey from a council estate to the international world of high fashion, as well as her contribution to arts, culture and social justice across the UK.

Eunice Olumide has been recognised for her contribution to arts, culture and social justice in the UKEunice Olumide has been recognised for her contribution to arts, culture and social justice in the UK (Image: Andy Buchanan / Open University)

During her acceptance speech she spoke about the need to “go beyond the superficial” to find a “path to a better world”, and told those receiving their degree awards that “patience, perseverance, dedication and commitment” had led them all to this point in their lives.

“Never accept defeat,” she added, “and don’t be afraid because failure is often just a side-effect of you learning and growing and winning.”

Read more:

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Afterwards, she told me that she had been surprised by how “extraordinarily emotional” she had found the experience.

Although she didn’t study with the OU herself, she spoke with real enthusiasm about its ethos and the way in which it “provides an opportunity for everybody to be able to study and elevate themselves.”

And that’s exactly it.

There can, at times, be a bit of snobbery about the Open University, all of which is ultimately rooted in one thing: the fact that it is truly open to all.

Deriving value from scarcity is fine for precious metals but it is a wholly inadequate approach to measuring the value of education. It suggests that it’s not the actual work we value, or the skills that an individual has developed, or the extent to which they have expanded their potential – we just like knowing that lots of other people were excluded, for one reason or another, despite being perfectly capable of success. It's an entire philosophy built around fetishising exclusion.

The Open University rejects that premise entirely, and in doing so it offers something that is, I believe, completely priceless. After today, I'm more sure of that than I've ever been.