The Institute of Physics Accreditation Committee reviewed Open University physics courses in 2004 and agreed a new scheme for accreditation of OU degrees, effective for students graduating in 2004 or later. According to the new scheme, in order to meet the Institute's requirements for Chartered Physicist status you must have been awarded an honours degree that includes passes in the following courses:

Compulsory courses:
S207	The Physical World (60)
MST209	Mathematical Methods and Models (60) [or its predecessor MST207]
SM355	Quantum Mechanics (30)
SXP390	Science Project Course: Radiation and Matter (30)
Plus one of:
SMT359	Electromagnetism (30) [or its predecessor SMT356]
S357	Space, Time and Cosmology (30)
Plus two residential school courses. One or both of the following courses:
SMXR355	Quantum Mechanics: Experiments, Applications and Simulations (10) *
SMXR356	Electromagnetism: Experiments, Applications and Simulations (10)
If only one of these Level 3 residential school courses is taken, then one of the following Level 2 courses should be included:
SXR207	Physics by Experiment (10) *
SXR208	Observing the Universe (15)
MSXR209	Mathematical Modelling (10) *
* These requirements could also be met by passing SM355 prior to 2002, by passing S207 in 2000 or by passing MST207 if the embedded residential schools were completed.

The OU expect that the new quantum mechanics course, SM358, planned for 2007 will be accepted in place of SM355 in the group of compulsory courses. Also, the residential school courses SMXR355 and SMXR356 will be recoded as SMXR358 and SMXR359 from 2007 and 2006, respectively, so that the numbers in the codes match those of the associated 30 point courses, and passes in the recoded courses will meet the residential school requirements.

Other combinations of courses may be acceptable for Chartered Physicist but will be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on the physics content.