Falkirk student is the smiling face of UK-wide ad campaign

Rom Boua (36) had a career in football before setting out to find a profitable way to support his family, and managed to secure a job with Sky after gaining an OU degree.

He was able to set out on this new career path because his commitment to studies showed his future employer how organised and dedicated he was to be able to manage work and study simultaneously.

He is now a Scrum Master at Sky Media, where he helps deliver technical solutions to meet the business requirements and continuously drive improvement.

Now Rom Boua has been chosen to star in a new advertising campaign being run by The Open University and Sky Media.

It means he will be playing a lead role in the campaign tp persuade more people that you don’t need to actually go to university in the conventional sense in order to be able to pursue the sort of studies that can have an important knock-on effect on your future career prospects.

The partnership between Sky and the OU is making a call for people to “Free Your Ambition”, and realise their dream career through education and its flexible study offering.

Rom will be a familiar face across Britain by the time the campaign ends, as the multi-channel campaign is expected to reach three quarters of the adult population.

The key message is about the OU’s wide appeal as a versatile distance learning institution which enable students to fit studies into normal everyday working life.

The advert tells the stories of people whose lives have been transformed through studying with The Open University.

This week, the second strand of the campaign - and Rom - went live, with an additional four 30 second ads focusing on the successful lives of Open University students employed by Sky.

The Open University estimates around 8.3 million adults would like to return to learning - but says that soe 1.7 million are putting it off because of confidence, a fear of failure and commitment challenges.