My name is Isabelle Hoyet and I am the Representative for International Students at Open SU. It gives me great pleasure to inform you that the OU recently updated their systems to include international phone numbers. International students can, therefore, now enter their international phone number when booking an appointment through the Scheduled Contact Service.
As a reminder, students can book an appointment with the Student Support Team (SST) through the Scheduled Contact Service, and choose a date and time (one-hour time frame) for an adviser to call them. In order to book the appointment, students will first need to receive a link to the booking system. Students can request this link from the SST either by email or via chat. An SST adviser will then send the link to the student by email.
When booking the appointment, students have to enter the phone number on which they wish to be called. Unfortunately, when the OU launched the Scheduled Contact Service, international phone numbers were not included in the system, so international students were not able to use the service. Consequently, the OU created a workaround for international students in order for them to use the service. However, this workaround still caused some confusion for students.
I have tested the system myself and was able to enter my Dutch phone number (please see screenshot below). I also found there were plenty of slots available and I was even able to have an appointment on the same day that I received the booking link.
You just select your country in the drop-down menu on the left, then enter your phone number in the box on the right (without a space).
Being able to use the Scheduled Contact Service is a major achievement and improvement for international students, as it will save them from making expensive phone calls. It is also a quick way of getting in touch with the SST.