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Never Too Late to Learn Mature Students in Higher Education About Never Too Late To Learn Mature students in higher education About This report presents the main findings of joint research by million+ and National Union of Students (NUS) investigating the experiences of people who go to university for the first time later in life. Million+ is a university think-tank, working to solve complex problems in higher education through research and evidence-based policy. NUS is a voluntary membership organisation which makes a real difference to the lives of students and its member students' unions. We are a confederation of 600 students' unions, amounting to more than 95 per cent of all higher and further education unions in the UK. Through our member students' unions, we represent the interests of more than seven million students. Contents Contents Foreword . 1 Research findings 1) The Importance of Mature Students . 2 2) The Characteristics of Mature Students . 6 3) Opportunities and Challenges: Mature Student Experiences of Higher Education . 20 4) Maximising Talent and Opportunity in Higher Education . 37 Concluding remarks . 43 Appendix . 44 Endnotes . 50 Never Too Late To Learn Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the mature students, graduates, university staff, students’ union officers and staff, and external stakeholders who shared their stories, views and experiences during the research process. We would also like to thank Anglia Ruskin University, the University of East London, Staffordshire University, London South Bank University and the University of the West of Scotland for hosting workshops that were open to students and staff from all institutions. The conclusions are those of million+ and NUS. All errors are our own. Debbie McVitty, NUS Katy Morris, million+ May 2012 Foreword Foreword e are delighted to present this report featuring mature applicants. This research also shows that as new in-depth research into the characteristics many as 80 per cent of current mature students who Wand experiences of mature students studying entered higher education holding an Access to HE first degrees in the UK. The creation of opportunities for qualification undertook that course when they were over those wishing to enter higher education later in life is a the age of 24; the same is true for over half of those unique feature of the UK education system, a feature holding other Level 3 qualifications including A-Levels. we must preserve, protect and promote. The withdrawal of direct public funding for Level 3 qualifications from 2013 –14 runs the risk of reducing Mature students are opportunists in the best sense of progression into higher education over the longer-term. the word: taking the opportunity to develop themselves, their careers and those of their families through higher We invite Government, universities, higher education education. Modern universities are at the forefront of institutions, further education colleges, students’ union mature student education, delivering supportive and officers and staff to read and reflect on the findings of engaging learning environments for students of all ages this research undertaken in collaboration between and backgrounds and driving social mobility. Students’ million+ and NUS. We ask them to join us in unions have a crucial role to play, not just in supporting celebrating the achievements of an often-overlooked mature student networks and support systems, but in cohort of extraordinary and ambitious students. Last but ensuring that mature students have a genuine voice in not least, we invite readers to consider how they can shaping their learning experience. Examples of good use the information presented here to help to make a practice are interspersed throughout this report, real and lasting difference to the quality of the demonstrating the diversity of provision and support that experience of mature students in higher education. is available for mature students. We look forward to taking these recommendations For mature students higher education represents a forward. fantastic opportunity but can also pose some significant Professor Patrick McGhee challenges. In this report mature students paint a picture Chair, million+ of juggling academic study with paid work, family commitments and financial responsibilities and it is clear Liam Burns that it can be difficult to find ways to finance and National President, NUS complete higher education studies. This report sheds Fiona Wood light on the factors that are crucial to improving the Mature Students’ Rep, NUS experiences and retention of mature students and suggests that ‘distance travelled’ from pre-entry qualifications to degree attainment should be taken into consideration when individual and institutional achievements are being assessed. Looking ahead, the new higher education funding regime in England may pose a threat to mature student participation. We have already seen a significant drop in full-time applications via UCAS for 2012 –13 amongst 1 Never Too Late To Learn The importance of mature students “The best thing about doing a degree was the world of opportunities that it opened, not least working with creative and inspiring people.” 2 Chapter 1 – The importance of mature students The importance of mature students Over the past 40 years the higher education sector in friends and family members, gaining the qualifications the United Kingdom has undergone significant needed to change career and increasing future transformation. Framed by the lifelong learning, employment opportunities. Mature students are workforce skills and widening participation agendas extraordinarily appreciative of the opportunity to go to and underpinned by the Robbins principle 1 that higher university and many speak of their pride in “finally” education courses should be available to all those who making it and proving to themselves and others that it are qualified and wish to study, 2 one aspect of this is possible. transformation has involved the expansion of higher Universities and further education (FE) colleges that education opportunities beyond the ‘traditional’ student offer higher education provision value mature students profile of 18 and 19 year olds with A-Level for the skills, motivations and life experiences that they qualifications. 3 bring with them. Many mature students have had Mature entry to university has risen – albeit in a non- extensive careers and come to university with linear fashion – from approximately 10 per cent of all transferable experience of planning their time, graduates and diploma holders in 198 04 to nearly a organising people and projects, working in groups and third of the undergraduate student body today. There presenting to audiences. This experience is beneficial were 429,460 mature undergraduates – defined by the for all students and helps to shape the culture of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) as students learning at any institution. Public funding for mature who are aged 21 or over on 30 September of the students via teaching funding and the Student Loans academic year in which they start a degree cours e5 – Company also contributes to institutional revenues. studying for first degrees at UK universities in 2009 –10 For society as a whole the teaching and learning that and these students represented 30.2 per cent of all first- mature students experience and the skills that they degree undergraduates. develop through higher-level study help produce the The expansion of opportunities for students who chose highly skilled workforce that the United Kingdom needs to enter higher education later in life has been driven by to remain competitive in the global economy. 7 As Leitch modern universities that share a real commitment to (2006) reported, 70 per cent of the UK workforce for social mobility and is one of the greatest strengths of 2020 is already beyond the age of compulsory the UK higher education system. 6 Yet the presence and education so it is vital that adults have the chance to importance of mature students is rarely reflected in acquire new skills and progress. Higher education is media reporting, political narratives around social one route by which this is possible. Mature participation mobility or in government campaigns about the benefits in higher education helps raise aspirations, enhance of higher education. This is unfortunate: mature resilience to economic and industrial change and students add richness and depth to the UK student increase wider levels of progression and social mobility. body and mature participation in higher education is Mature undergraduates are not a homogenous group vital for individuals, universities and society as a whole. and share much in common with their younger peers. For individual mature students, going to university for We do not wish to suggest that there is a universal the first time and acquiring a degree can be a way of mature student experience, that age is the overriding learning new things, expanding personal horizons, influence on student life or that there is a binary divide realising true potential, setting a good example to between the experiences of younger and older 3 Never Too Late To Learn undergraduates. Neither are we suggesting that study part-time and at modern universities and FE universities and students’ unions should necessarily colleges, undertake online and distance courses, study treat mature students differently – the examples of good education- and health-related subjects, to be juggling practice featured in this report are not designed study and family responsibilities,
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