Part-time study is crucial for widening participation

UALL warmly welcomes the emphasis which Professor Les Ebdon, the Director of Fair Access, is placing on the significant role that part-time study plays in widening participation to higher education.  This is an area that has seen a dramatic decline in numbers over the last five years and which is known to provide crucial opportunities for adults who have not progressed to higher education earlier in life. 

Whilst it has been encouraging to see increases in the participation of young, full-time students across all social groups, the gap between the least and most favoured remains stubbornly large.  This represents a terrible loss, year-on-year, and one which can only be addressed if people can come to higher education as adults.  For many, this means part-time study.

In his robust analysis of part-time higher education at UALL's November seminar, Professor Ebdon highlighted the importance of sustained pressure to alert policy-makers to the damaging crisis in part-time higher education and proposed the following key areas for action:

·         reform of the eligibility criteria for financial support for undergraduate study so that it becomes available to those wishing to take short units of learning and those who already hold higher education qualifications;

·         tax incentives for employers, coupled with appropriate drivers in the public sector, to support the up-skilling of the workforce through part-time higher education.

This stance is endorsed fully by UALL.  The Association would also urge that financial support for maintenance, currently restricted to those studying full-time, should be extended to their part-time counterparts.  We know from the experience of our members that this is critical for facilitating participation for adults who, though working, are in households where income is low and vulnerable.

See OFFA press release - Les Ebdon: crucial to support part-time higher education

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Verity Hilton

UALL Administrator