Need for financial understanding ‘greater than ever’

The need for financial understanding has “never been higher”, according to the Open University.

Announcing the third run of its financial education course, the university has said that the knowledge dispensed to those who attend can “better equip” people to deal with debt management and other financial matters.

“Just a quick glimpse at this week’s front pages proves that the need for financial understanding has never been higher,” said Ian Fribbance of the university’s faculty of social sciences.

Mr Fribbance added that it is important for consumers to understand how economic changes “affect them personally”, with debt management arguably one of the key financial situations altered by economic changes.

The university aims to focus on a number of areas through the course, including how economic changes affect personal finance, financial planning and the implications of extending a family in a financial way.

According to its website, the Open University was started in the 1960s.