“Long term trends suggest that part-time study will continue to rise, and it’s difficult to see how we can increase the supply of graduates as we must without an increase in part time study”
How can we best support flexible methods of study, and what are the key barriers to them?
Last year, I embarked on a modular (if I wished) MSc in Creative Industries Management at the newly established local campus for a university that probably sits on a ranking with Warwick. There were twelve of us that completed the course, out of thirteen. This was a fast track Postgraduate Certificate in CIM, delivered on Fridays and Saturdays from May to July. Five of us were awarded PGCs with Merits.
This was part of an ESFunded project and was a women only grouping. In terms of demographics, we ranged from 40-ish to mid-60s and we were all running our own business in some way, in the area. Because it was a pilot, it was free to us, in return for our commitment.
In many ways, it was a very positive experience, but not as far as dealing with the university was concerned. We were shunted around, not communicated with, unable to get replies from tutors about the coursework and the actual experience of being in the building at weekends was miserable. We had to deliver our presentations (part of our marks) to the background noise of drlling. We were made to feel totally unimportant as students, beyond the commitment to delivering lectures (which were good).
I have signed up for a further module and might continue to the next two in October, if I can bear dealing with the university’s inflexibility over the ways in which they timetable, communicate and generally treat us. I am in with three other students who are full-time, but I continually fall off the list, or miss the message, etc. It continually wrong-foots me, yet I have to make a significant commitment of time and money to achieve this alongside running a business. This also happened last year, and it is the reason that I am the only one with the stomach for signing up to another module now. The others couldn’t justify the time and money outlay (£605.00).
I have found the whole experience shocking, to be honest, and I hope it gets better before my 6 year old needs to study higher education. Students are treated with little respect, there is no pastoral care or out of lecture tutor/student follow-up contact adn there is an obsession with form over content in just about every way. For example, our professor has insisted on teaching this module so he can boast he still does hands-on lecturing to his colleagues around the world. What this means is: turning up at least 20 mins late for each lecture, and once dragging us all in 40 mins early because he had mis-read something; showing us four American video lectures from 1999; making us base an assignment on a case study from 1999.
So, flexible study could and should work. Universities just have to learn that now we have to pay for education and we have reduced it to a package with a fixed cost, they need to offer value for money. This means more flexible timetabling, as per Professor King’s recommendations, more amenable facilities, treating part-time students the same as full-time in every way. Not making life difficult and complex. Although we don’t pay £3,000 in one go, my commitment to the course enabled them to claim £2,400 of funding, and I have now brought that up to £3,000 with my own contribution. Therefore, part-timers are just as likely to generate the same amount of income and if they are developed as ‘returning’ or ‘retained’ students, they could provide a steady income when other sources dry up.
Basically, the people who need and currently use flexible study are the ones at the very bottom of the heap for universities. I think there’s some snobbery about it, as though you can’t be serious if you’re not full-time. This is a great shame: it is so satisfying intellectually and has benefited my business. It promotes both the university and the town - or it could do.
At the moment, this is a crucial area to support.
Surely the problem is that many Universities (particularly at the more traditional, research intensive end of the sector) are used to working in a 9-5 culture. Which is ridiculous, because students have always done studying at non normal times of the day and week. Universities are playing catch up to what has always been the case - its just now those students who start studying at 2am are paying fees and demanding (quite rightly) the support required. Universities need to understand that being flexible enough to attract a whole new cohort of students who are put off by HE by the other pressures on their time requires a whole new way of thinking. Its not just about running a few lectures out of hours. So, timetabling with enough notice period for students to arrange their business or caring or childcare arrangements, an ability to go to an evening lecture and access the extra support required (library, pastoral, fee paying etc.), the need to make an after hours campus more than just a venue for drunk 19 year olds etc.
ON the other hand, I’m deeply sceptical about Universities moving into the PT market. Sarah’s experience above surely shows that the culture shift required is just too extreme. When we’ve got a world leader in flexible study as one of the centre pieces of our HE market (the OU), is it really worth 9-5 traditional Universities trying to move into this market, bearing in mind that in failing (as some inevitably will do) they’ll be putting more people off entering into higher education.
I think the previous posters have hit the nail on the head by highlighting the culture of higher education as a key barrier to more flexible & part time ways of learning. Universities are based almost entirely around the needs of 18-21 year old “typical” students and it will take a massive culture shift to enable them to cater effectively to a more diverse intake. Many have paid lip service to “widening participation”, and have introduced commendable admissions policies to encourage non-typical students into HE, but then fall down when it comes to actually supporting these students on their courses and adapting the system to accommodate them.
Students with children come up against this problem all the time; the policies, procedures & attitudes of universities/departments/staff/student finance seem to be based on certain assumptions about the student population, many of which result in indirect discrimination against student parents. Anyone designing a truly inclusive education system from scratch would never have put exams after Christmas, for example!! Personally I have had to take temporary leave through stress twice now, on both occasions shortly before the January exam period, as there was no way that I could reduce the conflict between the demands of parenthood and university at this time of year due to the lack of flexibility in the system. Individual staff members are often supportive and try to be flexible, but the system itself is implacable.
The modern Higher Education system feels to many of us like an unrelenting conveyor belt, churning out “cookie cutter” employees who have bags of transferable skills but little passion for their subject (whatever happened to “academia”?!), and seems to be based on one-size-fits-all policies. Yes, there are equality and diversity initiatives, but even these try to place people in artificial categories based on race, income, religion, disability etc. as though these individuals are defined by their label (and if the label is unrecognised - e.g. “student parent” - then your support needs are also unrecognised).
Those of us with additional responsibilities need much greater flexibility to enable us to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available without our family lives and mental health suffering. I just can’t see this happening without sweeping changes to the whole structure & culture of Higher Education.
I haven’t even touched on finance, which is a whole other issue, but suffice to say that the current system for funding part time learning is seriously lacking. And don’t get me started on the impact of welfare reform on student parents - the removal of income support for single parents with children aged over 7, effectively making it impossible for them to combine part time study with adequate parenting, is possibly the most stupid policy to come out of the government in the last few years. It directly contradicts all of the talk about equipping people with skills & education to lift them out of poverty. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.