Others like us? ‐ A study of part‐time degree provision outside the Open University

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Pat Rickwood

Before April 1993 the Open University was unique within the higher education sector, as an open‐access ‘second chance’ university teaching a mature student constituency in a part‐time mode using a range of methods and technologies. This situation altered fundamentally after that date. Part‐time degree provision has become a necessary and attractive option for other universities, combining elements of altruism and self‐interest. This study of eight neighbouring universities in the West Midlands region, where its author Pat Rickwood is a Senior Counsellor with the OU UK, has revealed the growth in size of part‐time degree provision, the structures which support it, and highlights a number of issues and concerns.