To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to address the continued decline in enrolments of all part-time students in higher education as indicated in higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained at higher education providers in the UK in 2015-16.
Answered on
20 January 2017
The Government believes that studying part-time can bring enormous benefits for individuals, the economy and employers, and is committed to helping part-time learners.
Up-front fee loans for eligible part-time students were introduced in 2012/13 and we are further enhancing the student finance package for part-time students by introducing full-time equivalent maintenance loans in 2018/19.
Since 2015/16, students who already hold an honours degree qualification and wish to study part-time on a second honours degree course in engineering, technology or computer science, have qualified for fee loans for their course. This is being extended for 2017/18 to graduates starting a second part-time honours degree course in any science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject.
In our February 2016 guidance, we asked the Director of Fair Access to provide a renewed focus on part-time study.