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CU Scarborough highlighted as exemplar for flexible, part-time study
Degree news / Campus news
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Wednesday 23 August 2017
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CU Coventry, part of the Coventry University Group, has been highlighted as an exemplar in the provision of flexible and part-time learning in the latest report – published today – by the Office for Fair Access (Offa), which promotes widening participation and regulates fair access to universities in England.
Offa’s annual report into access agreements – the documents in which universities set out how they sustain and improve access, success and progression among people from under-represented groups – puts the spotlight on the ‘life-shaped learning’ offer at CU Scarborough, CU London and CU Coventry, whose courses are designed to fit with students’ lifestyles.
The report draws attention to the benefits of the flexible higher education provision in Coventry, Scarborough and London, including how evening and weekend delivery allows students – particularly mature students – to fit their timetable around other commitments such as part-time employment and family responsibilities.
Vice-Chancellor John Latham said:
Everyone working across our CU sites should be proud that their work is being held up as an example of fair access, and one that the sector should follow. Our CU Scarborough, CU London and CU Coventry offers are bringing the opportunity of a higher education to thousands of people who may otherwise have felt they couldn’t commit to a traditional university degree, and we’re pleased that is being recognised by the sector’s fair access watchdog.
Our flexible and part-time offer is not the only area in which our widening participation agenda is having a positive impact. The proportion of black and minority ethnic entrants to Coventry from the last five years increased to almost 50 per cent, and our admissions from state schools remain consistently high at over 96 per cent. These are just some of the ways we’re helping under-represented groups to access university.
18%
of all acceptances to Coventry University since 2014 have been for students classed as mature
The idea that university is for 18-year-olds is not right at all. Importantly, what people feel inclined or driven to do educationally changes quite drastically with age. It’s about making sure you are best placed for careers and job markets, and sometimes just following a passion.
Education is a lifelong process and things are changing in how we offer and deliver education, so we want to encourage a new way of thinking.
Simon Jones, Deputy Director for admissions at Coventry University
1500
In 2016 almost 1,500 mature students were accepted on courses at the University
