Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Learning & development

UK business creates elitist system for part-time study

by Personnel Today 13 Jul 2010
by Personnel Today 13 Jul 2010

UK businesses provide the lion’s share of financial support for staff studying part-time, but its exclusivity is creating an elitist system reveals the Higher Education Careers Services Unit’s (HECSU) ‘Futuretrack: Part-time Students’ study, published today (10 June 2010).

The research, conducted by Birkbeck University of London and the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, studied 3,704 part-time undergraduate students from across the UK. It has raised concerns over the cost of part-time study and the nature of financial support available to students – all important issues for the Browne Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance.

It reveals the average annual cost of part-time study is £1,730 of which £1,166 goes on tuition and £564 on other course costs such as books. Only 14% of students received a government fee grant and for 43% of them the funds were not enough to meet the cost of their tuition. In contrast, 41% received help from their employer of which only 17% had to find additional finances. 

In terms of course costs, 19% were awarded a government grant, which was insufficient for two-thirds (68%) of students. Employers supported students in other forms such as offering paid time-off work to study (47%) and contributions towards course expenses (15%).

‘Futuretrack: Part-time Students’ revealed that students who received employer contributions were from high or medium income households, and therefore in least need of support. In contrast, those students most in need of financial support receive it from the government or higher education institution.

Mike Hill, chief executive at HECSU says: “Employers are clearly very supportive of their staff taking on part-time study, both financially and in-kind. However, they are also selective in who they invest in, favouring the most advantaged in their workforce. By supporting those in least need of support a lot of disadvantaged groups are missing out.

“Relying on business contributions for part-time study puts its ‘fairness’ in jeopardy, creating an elitist and exclusive system. It means that course selection is driven by the potentially short-term views of the employer rather than the more personal long-term view of the student. Government funding should ultimately look to balance this, but at the moment it’s insufficient.”

Claire Callender, professor of higher education at Birkbeck University of London adds: “State-funded student financial support helps to compensate for the absence of employer support for tuition fees for students who need it most, acting as a safety net and making up for market failure. However, access to government support is not driven by financial need but by students’ existing qualifications and hours of study, which automatically disqualifies the majority of part-time undergraduates. Consequently a vast number of part time students don’t receive this kind of support, including disadvantaged groups.

“The financial support available to part-time students does not promote widening participation and fair access, and is in stark contrast to the much more generous and comprehensive funds available for full-timers.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The study also revealed that both students and employers are reaping the benefits of part-time study even before their course is completed. Impacting directly on performance and productivity at work, 80% of students had made good use of their new knowledge in their job, more than half (54%) had taken on more responsibility  and nearly two-thirds (65%) felt it had improved their ability to do their job.

For further information and to read the full report visit www.hecsu.ac.uk

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
New Love2Shop and Love2Choose gift cards
next post
Teachers in Bristol and South Gloucestershire threaten strikes over Sats

You may also like

Investing in skills when budgets are tight

12 May 2025

Leading with honest feedback: A responsibility in recruitment

24 Apr 2025

High-level apprenticeship spend doubles in five years

16 Apr 2025

Number of SMEs hiring staff in decline

10 Apr 2025

Gen Z and ‘conscious unbossing’: how can HR...

7 Apr 2025

How to build a commercially-minded workforce

3 Apr 2025

Why the apprenticeship shakeup is good news for...

20 Mar 2025

Scrapping NHS England could affect critical training, warn...

14 Mar 2025

Employee engagement: Growing disconnect between effort and recognition,...

13 Mar 2025

Schneider Electric doubles ex-military green skills scheme

13 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+