Member News
30th September 2010
Professor Ruth Farwell, vice-chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University and chair of GuildHE, writes for ePolitix.com following the publication of a report by Universities UK on the future of part-time study.
Part-time students have long received only part-time attention from policymakers, whose focus until now has been on the kind of traditional full-time degree courses that they probably undertook themselves. This has to change.
Universities UK (UUK) has predicted that part-time and work-based learning will become increasingly important as employers and students look to improve skills without the price tag that comes with full-time study.
The observation follows UUK's annual report on patterns of higher education published earlier this month, which found part-time enrolments had been increasing significantly more than those for full-time study. It forecast a future in which a lower proportion of students will be taking traditional full-time degrees while living in student digs, and more will be learning part-time from home.
For many students and employers, as well as for the UK economy, this way of learning offers huge benefits. But it does need more recognition and support.
First, both government and employers will need to offer better financial help. Support arrangements for part-time degrees lag badly behind those in place for full-time students. Part-time students cannot take out loans or receive grants, and they have to find the money to pay their fees upfront. There is some support for those studying more than 50 per cent of a full-time course, but it is not comparable to the financial arrangements for full-time students.
It is hoped that Lord Browne's forthcoming review of higher education fees will address many of these issues, but employers too will need to play their part.
While better financial support for part-time students is crucial, so is better information about the different part-time study options that are available.
One of the most striking things about recent debates on university places and graduate unemployment is the level of ignorance that exists about the opportunities today's higher education system offers.
The fact is that prospective students now have more choice about where and how they study than any of their predecessors, which has helped prompt the record numbers applying to university.
One reason for this increased choice is that universities, particularly newer ones like mine, have been building strong connections with employers and creating the kinds of courses they say they want. Far from launching a range of popular courses that have no relevance to the workplace, we have been doing exactly what ministers are calling on universities to do and designed highly vocational programmes that equip students with the skills employers seek.
At Buckinghamshire New University we offer part-time courses, work-based foundation degrees and other non-traditional ways of studying which allow students to gain or hone experience of the workplace, and earn money, without sacrificing the chance of a university education. Our partner organisation, Aylesbury College, in Buckinghamshire, arranges apprenticeships on behalf of employers, and soon students completing these apprenticeships will have the opportunity to progress into higher education too.
Our Enterprise Festival in November will give business people and budding entrepreneurs from across the region the chance to network and develop commercial projects together. Given that entrepreneurial spirit is what the shaky UK economy now needs, it makes sense for many students to study part-time while pursuing new business ideas.
The government talked about its desire for qualifications in practical subjects to be more 'hands on' and responsive to labour market demands when it announced an independent review of vocational qualifications for 14-19 year-olds this month. But universities like ours realised this a long time ago, and have been doing something about it.
What politicians now need to do is to make people aware of all the study options that already exist, and create more incentives for institutions and employers to develop them further. Rather than worrying about changes to traditional patterns of study on the one hand, while urging a closer relationship with employers on the other, policymakers and others should be doing more to publicise, support and celebrate the diversity of learning that today's students already enjoy.
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