Birkbeck and part-time study feature in social mobility report
Birkbeck has welcomed support for part-time students in a new report
Birkbeck has welcomed support for part-time students in a report released yesterday by the Government’s social mobility adviser Alan Milburn (pictured, right). A case study about Birkbeck’s successful retention strategy also appears in the Government-commissioned study.
The document urges Government to produce a new strategy as a matter of urgency to encourage non-traditional students – especially mature and part-time students – to enter higher education. University Challenge: How Higher Education Can Advance Social Mobility highlights the 15-20 per cent drop in applications among mature students and calls for better communications about this year’s changes to student fees. It reads: “The Government’s communication effort also needs to be broadened, particularly to part-time and mature students.”
Milburn, the Government-appointed Independent Reviewer on Social Mobility and Child Poverty, sent his team on a two-day visit to Birkbeck in 2011 as part of the fact-finding phase for the report. Birkbeck’s mission to enable adult students from diverse social and educational backgrounds to participate in its courses is referred to in the study. A case study about the College emphasises improved retention rates following the introduction of a website and workshops aimed to improve study skills.
Birkbeck’s response
Tricia King, Birkbeck’s Pro-Vice-Master for Student Experience and Director of External Relations, said: “We are delighted that Alan Milburn’s report highlights the important role of part-time study and adult learners in social mobility; it's not all about young people. Since its beginnings in 1823, promoting social mobility for working people has been at the heart of Birkbeck’s mission. We hope the Government will heed the advice in the report, while we continue to do our utmost to make our evening courses accessible to busy Londoners.”
Throughout this year, Birkbeck has taken unprecedented steps to communicate the new system of fees and loans to prospective students, and it has campaigned for others in the sector to do the same. The College has emphasised that, for the first time, most part-time students do not have to pay their course fees upfront and are eligible for student loans.