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

• The findings suggest the importance of developments in new technology, especially onlineservices, for part-time students irrespective of whether they are distance learners or taughtface-to-face. Part-time students’ reliance on such facilities is just one way in which theymanage the demands of studying part-time and their work and domestic commitments.• These findings also highlight the importance of university libraries which traditionally managethese online resources. Thus, while only a minority of students actually study in their universitylibrary (Table 5.1), the vast majority use their university library.• As Figure 5.5 shows the most popular services and facilities used occasionally or frequently,by over a half the students, were:− the university’s online resources (90%);− library (79%);− IT facilities (73%); and− catering (67%).• And it was the online resources and the library that were used most frequently (Figure 5.6).• Not surprisingly students’ access and use of these services varied by whether their course wasdelivered face-to-face or through distance learning.• A similar proportion of non-distance and distance learners used their university’s on lineservices but a higher proportion of students taught face-to-face than distance learners usedthe library (91% compared with 48%); IT facilities (80% compared with 51%); and cateringservices (70% compared with 47%).Figure 5.6:servicesPercentage of students who reported the frequency of use of the followingOnline resources(2615)103159Library (2591)213346NeverOccasionallyFrequentlyIT facilities (2566)274131Catering (2110)3343240% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Base: The base figures are reported in parentheses following the items. They include all students that reportthe item is applicable to them.Source: London South Bank University – UK Student Survey 2006Part-time students and part-time study: Strand 3 Universities UK 67