Peers debate part-time study and call for Government action
Baroness Joan Bakewell, President of Birkbeck, highlighted the benefits of part-time study and urged the Government to help part-time students
Baroness Joan Bakewell, President of Birkbeck, highlighted the benefits of part-time study and urged the Government to help part-time students during a debate in the House of Lords yesterday.
The discussion focused on the difficulties facing part-time study, the value of such education to the economy, employers and individuals, and possible solutions to reverse declining part-time student numbers. Peers repeatedly referred to Birkbeck and its exemplary provision for part-time students.
Challenging times
Baroness Bakewell emphasised the “serious crisis in part-time education” by referring to the 40 per cent fall in part-time undergraduate enrolments nationwide since 2010. She identified three main reasons for this decline: reluctance to take out student loans and confusion about the new system (part-time students can apply for student loans to cover their tuition fees, but many students do not know this), the withdrawal of funding for students studying Equivalent or Lower Qualifications (ELQ), and the country’s economic difficulties, including “redundancies and a relatively stagnant economy.”
Baroness Bakewell described the benefits of part-time study. She said: “The known and existing benefits of part-time study are already understood: it increases social mobility by allowing people from poorer backgrounds to access study that they would not be able to afford full-time, and it allows adults who have missed out earlier by taking employment straight from school to re-think and re-shape their prospects, consider a change of direction and gain a more fulfilling and self-directed future for themselves.
Baroness Bakewell mentioned the Part Time Matters campaign, which Birkbeck supports, to promote part-time study, and she asked for education to match the needs of students. She added: “We need government help to do this, and I believe that, with the argument strongly made, we will get a good hearing.”
Incentives and investment needed
Other peers also spoke of the importance of part-time study and recommended action. Baroness Sharp of Guildford, an honorary fellow of Birkbeck, said: “If we are going to upskill and reskill this current generation, it is vital that we have the means of doing so. Part-time education – being able to earn and learn at the same time, and upskill and reskill – is vital to upgrading the skill profile of this country.” Baroness Sharp asked the Government to consider tax incentives for fees for part-time education, as is the case in the US.
Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe said: “I would argue that the Government can either pay now to encourage and support more people to study part-time or they can pay later in the higher social and economic costs of supporting people who cannot get jobs in a labour market that has changed.”
Baroness Brinton said: “Birkbeck College and the Open University in particular have outstanding records in their provision for part-time students in very different ways.”
Response from Government
Baroness Garden of Frognal, Liberal Democrat peer and Lords spokesperson for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, recognised the importance of part-time study, and praised the Open University and Birkbeck. She also said the Government will consider the recommendations of the UUK review of part-time and mature higher education, which is due to be published this autumn. Baroness Frognal added: “The Government and the sector are working together to explore what more we can do to support part-time study...Our communications activity for 2013 has elements focused specifically on part-time applicants.”