A preliminary analysis of UK university websites finds gaps in the practical information on how postgraduate part-time study actually works, combined with inconsistent acknowledgement of the challenges faced by these learners. Ewan Fairweather, Postgraduate Student Recruitment Manager at The University of Edinburgh asks: ‘Should we really be surprised that many universities find it challenging to recruit part-time postgraduate students?’
‘New Year, New You’. It’s January, the month when ambitions and aspirations take shape. Right now, those of us working in university marketing and recruitment are capitalising on this self-improvement trend, targeting potential postgraduate learners and helping them navigate the labyrinth of course choice, affordability and time commitments.
With more than 13,000 part-time Master’s options listed on Findamasters.com, learners are spoiled for choice; there’s a strong chance they’ll find something relevant out there. But can they afford postgraduate study? And crucially, can they find the time to do it?
Busy lives
For those fortunate enough to be able to fund a part-time Master’s, it will require the considerable investment of another increasingly scarce commodity: time. And this is particularly the case among the largest segment of potential domestic postgraduate students, those aged 30+. This mature audience of prospective learners inevitably carries more personal and professional baggage – careers, relationships, families, caring responsibilities, community and volunteering roles, mortgages and loans.
That is why they are more likely to be considering part-time postgraduate study and so need to work out in very practical terms how to balance learning and living; to picture precisely what it will actually mean.
Drilling down into the detail
I know that universities do so much behind the scenes to address the needs of all types of learners, but sadly this does not come across in the following statements, the likes of which I frequently encountered when searching for part-time postgraduate course details online:
- As the School timetable changes from year to year and is not finalised until August, we are unable to confirm this information in advance.
- Part-time students are strongly advised to wait until the timetable is available before finalising their other commitments.
- Classes can be timetabled Monday-Friday between 9am-6pm. We cannot give timetables in advance of enrolment unfortunately.
With such logistical and chronological vagueness, is it realistic to expect busy people to make life-changing decisions? Certainly timetabling is complicated but we need a clearer answer to the question, ‘So I can plan my life, can you give me an idea of what my timetable will look like?’
Postgraduate part-time learning may not generate the short-term financial boost that the sector needs right now, but we have to plan for today and tomorrow, especially if there is, ‘a need for more people with postgraduate skills in the workforce’. And if the largest segment of domestic students is older, we can assume that many will be looking at part-time in all its glorious forms (online, blended, block, burst, evenings, distance) as their preferred study mode. We have to up our game; timetabling challenges may pose us major headaches, but for prospective students, they are less relevant.
What I did
With a view to improving the information and guidance online for prospective part-time postgraduate students considering the University of Edinburgh, I carried out some exploratory analysis. I sought to understand how UK universities articulated the benefits and practicalities of part-time postgraduate study during the traditional core search period of early January. Typing ‘part time masters’ followed by the institution name into Google, I clicked on the most appropriate results, then evaluated these pages according to two categories:
- Coverage: Whether part-time study was included, or contextualised, on the page and the extent to which this was done with empathy and understanding.
- Specifics: The level of deeper detail provided (the ‘how, where, who and when’ of part-time delivery).
Pockets of best practice
I gathered the information to improve the content on my own institution’s website with a focus on these busy learners who are looking to successfully juggle high-level study with busy lives. It’s clear that collectively we must do better to address their requirements but there are nonetheless pockets of best practice I believe we can learn from:
- Leeds: offers a blueprint for the provision of specific timetable information for each part-time course. It may not look beautiful but when you eventually get there, you find the details you need, combined with a helpful disclaimer
- Bedfordshire: From a dedicated part-time page, you navigate to a list of what’s available part-time. From here, you find a course schedule and timetable of exactly when and where the units take place presented in a user-friendly format.
- Birkbeck, RVC and Brighton provide extensive details of when and where teaching takes place so you can better manage your time.
- Birmingham City University, scores strong on empathy, thinking deeply about the profile and specific needs of their prospective part-time learners
- The Open University lives and breathes part-time. The ‘how’ section is fabulous, but I was expecting more on the ‘when and how do I study/attend classes?’
- Some institutions promise innovative delivery models designed to support part-time learners’ needs, including De Montfort (‘Block Teaching’) and the RCA (‘Burst Mode’)
- Kent is launching a new curriculum and a progressive approach to timetabling this year, designed to help busy people manage their lives better.
Universities with high or medium part-time learning coverage and/or specifics on their website

My recommendations
In concluding, here are some (relatively) easy-to-implement recommendations that will give postgraduate part-time students a clearer idea of the time they need to commit to their studies:
- Publish sample timetables: definitive times and locations may not be possible, but is there a way of providing a sample timetable or sharing last year’s timetables?
- Consolidate information on part-time study: consider bringing together all information on part-time learning into an easily findable resource or section
- Provide bespoke part-time course structure details: interrogate the curriculum from a part-time learner’s perspective, then re-write and update
- Show that we care: acknowledge that part-time learners have specific needs. Ideally, do this in a warm and welcoming tone.
It is complicated, but let’s aim to do part-time better – we owe it to our learners!
Brilliant!
And this matter is of increasing importance when many of the present students will live into the C22, of whom many will want to learn and study for all manner of reasons and into and well past retirement age.
I am convinced that, if universities could tackle this matter seriously, with identified stages to postgraduate programmes, that there are going to be substantial numbers that would take advantage of such opportunities, not least universities’ own alumni.
Kindly
Ron Barnett
Good to see a post such as this – modest but practical and very necessary!
Excellent! ‘Timetabling’ was always the ‘computer says no’ response as to why block, part time, and flexible learning strategies and curricula got stopped in their tracks at a UK university i worked with. The timetabling chokepoint was a side effect of a system set up for a large scale, once a year undergraduate intake but ill fit for any other learning journey.
With so many undergraduates now also commuting and or with heavy work and caring responsibilities the absence of timely information on when, where and how learning is delivered is, I suspect, also contributing to enrolment and retention wobbles.
If education is to be learner centred,
the when, where and how of it has to be designed for and clearly available to all prospective learners in good time to decide whether their high investment in time and money is actually feasible or not.