Part-time Students And part-time Study In Higher ... - Universities UK

• Three in five students mentioned as very important the fact that part-time study was moreconvenient than studying full-time, especially those who had opted to study through distancelearning (67%) and students aged 40 and over (67% compared with for instance 52% of thoseaged 17-29). Students with dependent children were also far more likely than those withoutchildren to identify as very important the convenience of part-time study (66% compared with56%).• Overall, 45 per cent of students chose part-time study because of their domestic responsibilities,but this rose to 81 per cent among lone parents (91% of whom were women) and 68 per cent forpartnered students with dependent children. By contrast, only 14 per cent of single childlessstudents and 22 per cent of partnered students without dependent children mentioned this as avery important reason. In addition, students with part-time jobs (83% of whom were women)were more likely than students with full-time jobs (55% of whom were women) to identify thisreason (62% compared with 37%) which reflected the gender differences in part- and full-timeemployment.• Clearly, part-time provision plays a particularly significant role for those who can not move awayfrom home for family or employment reasons. Moreover, part-time study had to be fitted aroundthese realities and the other demands of students’ lives.2.2 Why students decided to do their course/qualification• All students were asked to rate how important a number of reasons were in their decision toundertake their particular qualification/course.• Students' strongest motives for undertaking their course were instrumental (Figure 2.2 – seealso Appendix 1, Table A2.2). They were largely associated with their desire to gain aqualification and to improve their labour-market prospects and career aspirations – concernslinked to the Lifelong Leaning agenda of ‘upskilling’.• But, they were able to combine this with intellectual factors, such as an interest in the subject,and a desire to be stretched intellectually or to continue studying.• The two very important reasons which students most frequently gave for choosing their coursewere a mixture of instrumental and intellectual reasons:− to gain a qualification (69%); and− their interest in the subject (61%).Part-time students and part-time study: Strand 3 Universities UK 19