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Part-time students

Over 40% of all higher education students in the UK study part-time. People study part-time for many reasons including: students pursuing career development and career change objectives, those who find it difficult to access full-time higher education and those in retirement seeking to maintain intellectual vigour. As such, there is no such thing as a typical part-time student in terms of who they are, why they study, when, where and how they study, and how they pay for their study.

The total costs of study per part-time student – tuition fees and other course costs – amounted to an average £1,385 over the 2005/06 academic year. Some 59% of this was spent on tuition fees and the remaining 41% on other course costs such as books, computers, travel etc.

An estimated 77% of the students in the UUK study were ineligible for a course or fee grant. The three reasons for this:

students were studying for less than 50% of a full-time course
students already had a higher education qualification (or equivalent)
household incomes were above the eligibility threshold

Numbers of Part-Time students in the UK from the latest HESA data (2007/08):

First degree: 198,160
Other undergraduate: 374, 810
Postgraduate: 252,755
Total Part-Time students: 825,720

NUS Part Time Students NEC Rep

Hello, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, what the role of the Part-time Student Rep on the NEC is and what plans we have for the year. My name is Trevor Dallimore-Wright, 51 years old and I am in my third year studying History at Birkbeck,Birkbeck is a Part-Time and Evening HE institution situated in the heart of Bloomsbury just a stones throw away from most major University of London Colleges. This is my first time at a HE institution.

As a person with educational and other hidden disabilities I represent on the Student Council, disabled members of the union at Birkbeck. I am Chair of the Disabled Members Committee and am a founding member of the Birkbeck Disabled Society. The post, and role, of Part-time Student Rep on the NEC is new and part of my personal aim is to develop both post and role. The post of Rep is to sit on the NEC and to constantly remind them of the existence of part-time students and be a voice for parttimers on the NEC.

I wish to develop the role to be a champion for part-time students, whether at a FE, evening institute undertaking a short course in practical or academic studies, or in HE studying for a degree in the evening after work which make up a substantial number of people. It must be remembered that part-time students study part-time for a huge number of differing reasons from retraining, entering the system late in life, child care issues, working full-time to finance the course work etc.

At zone, national conference and liberation conference I wish to see policy reflect the hard realities that affect many part-time students. I want to ensure that part-time students are not left out when policy is drawn up and that part-time students are consulted on policy that will affect them. Locally I would like to encourage a network of part-timer representatives in SUs forming part-time and mature student forums or groups as we have seen happen in several places. It was a pleasure to open the Mature Students Forum and Part-Time Students Forum at The University of The Arts London Students’ Union this year and I hope other member unions will follow suit. You can contact me at:
trevor.dallimore-wright@nus.org.uk

NUS Information:

Education Information EI/08/045 Report on Part-time students by Professor King

NUS paper on part-time students (May 2008)

Education Information EI/08/011 Part-time students

Education Information Part Time Students - A New Focus (October 2009)

Other information:

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