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Birkbeck welcomes recognition of part-time study in HE Bill

Government regulator is to consider flexible ways of learning

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Birkbeck has welcomed proposals that would require the new universities regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), to promote choice in the way university courses are taught, including part-time study, distance learning and accelerated courses.

The importance of offering students the option to study part-time has been recognised in changes the Government plans to make to the Higher Education & Research Bill, now going through parliament.

Amendments to the Bill were announced by Universities Minister Jo Johnson in a speech to sector body Universities UK on Friday. In his speech, the minister thanked Birkbeck President, Dame Joan Bakewell, among other Labour peers, for their constructive contributions to the parliamentary debate so far.

Birkbeck has been working to gain explicit recognition of part-time study in the HE & Research Bill, and to raise awareness of the importance of flexible learning among MPs and peers as the Bill progresses through parliament. The Bill enters Report stage in the House of Lords next Monday, March 6, when peers will have a final opportunity to approve the Government’s amendments and make any further changes.

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