I have seen many places and the way other people live, and learned how fortunate we in this country are.Why did you start studying with the OU?I was coming towards the end of my rugby-playing career and while I had experience I felt I needed some qualification on paper to get me through the door of a prospective employer.The MBA was going to be my safety net if my career in TV didn’t work out.What difference has the OU made?I wanted to prove to myself I could have got a degree if I had stayed on as a student when I was younger. But sport has given me opportunities I would never have had otherwise. In 1984 I went to the Olympics in LA and I was like a piece of blotting paper, absorbing it all. Then I applied for the first job I saw which was as a clerical assistant in the Welsh Office in Cardiff. You needed only two O-levels but the civil service had a reputation for allowing special leave for sports people. I needed an income because at the level I was at it costs you to do sport It’s only the really big names who can make money from it. My parents said I would regret it and, like most things your mum and dad say, they were right.What was your earliest ambition?I just wanted to be wealthy and successful.

Sport didn’t come into it because, though I took part in everything – athletics, rugby, football, basketball, tennis – I didn’t become a sportsman until I was 17 and made the British Junior Athletics Team. People were quite surprised when I retired from athletics at the age of 29 and took up rugby. I just felt I’d gone as far as I could and that I had something to offer the game of rugby.What was your first job?I left school after A-levels and was on the dole for 12 months. What was your family background?
I am Cardiff born and bred It was a fantastic place to grow up. Everyone talks about London but I think Cardiff can now hold its own.How were your school years?Interesting! I didn’t do as well as I would have liked because I put more energy into my sport than my studies. The route from top-level sport to tv commentating is a well-trodden one, but OU Business School student Nigel Walker brings more to it than most, having reached international level both on the track – as a sprint hurdler – and, subsequently, on the rugby field for Cardiff and Wales.

People in the services recognise the OU for its distance learning programmes and value the fact that this qualification gives 60 points towards the OU degree as well as a route towards professional recognition”, he said.. The support of the OU has been crucial in recruiting to the Engineering Technology Management NVQ, Mr Oakes added.”We wanted a programme that was unique and our main selling point was the OU’s logo. This programme is aimed at those who wanted them together rather than two stand-alone qualifications; for instance, those who have been engineers and worked their way up into a management role for which they want recognition.”Halton’s partnership with the armed services means it has now delivered NVQs to around 74 bases through the UK and worldwide, and has developed a reputation for flexibility, which includes piloting a programme via the internet next year. The College hopes shortly to arrange an awards ceremony on HMS Invincible to mark the first Naval successes on the course, who will be joining four RAF students who have already made the grade.The partnership has now delivered NVQs to more than 70 bases worldwide, and has developed a reputation for flexibility, which includes piloting a programme via the internet next year.Explained David Oakes, Head of Department for Engineering and Armed Services at Halton: “At one stage you had an engineering qualification or a management qualification. In terms of getting public confidence, it’s very important to have an organisation with the reputation of the OU in support.”EngineeringTechnologyFrom Cyprus to Kosovo, the Open University’s special relationship with the armed forces has enabled servicemen and women to continue studying wherever they are posted.So when engineering specialists Halton College were looking for a partner for a unique new qualification combining engineering with management training, the OU was an obvious choice.More than 170 senior engineers from the RAF and the Royal Navy have now signed up for the Halton Engineering Technology Management NVQ level 4, validated by OUVS. As several high profile cases have shown, a single slip-up may be mercilessly exposed in court.Yet scenes-of-crime investigators are often working against the clock, knowing they have only one chance to minutely locate and examine evidence which may prove crucial.That is why the National Training Centre for Scientific Support to Crime Investigations, is keen to see the introduction of occupational standards.The partnership with OUVS has resulted in awards for the first five scenes- of-crime investigators to achieve professional recognition.In the longer term, the effects of this pilot scheme may be to alter the perception of the white-overalled examiners, so beloved of TV detective drama.Centre Director Peter Ablett explained: “People see high profile cases involving DNA but, compared to chemistry or physics, whose professional societies have been around for centuries, forensic science has only really got going in the last 15 years.”Each year around 1,500 crime scene examiners operate in the UK examining one million crimes and they get only one chance – so getting it right means a lot.