Credentialism, adults and part-time higher education in the United Kingdom: an account of rising take up and some implications for policy

This paper focuses on, and helps to explain, the growing importance of high er level qualifications for adults in the UK. It highlights statistical tre nds in their take up of qualifications, particularly, as the result of taki ng part-time courses in higher education. Recent figures indicate that most part-time students at undergraduate level fund their own tuition fees: I i nterpret this finding as an indicator of individual demand. The article goe s on to draw on a qualitative study of mature students to identify some of the issues which lie behind the statistics. I suggest that insights into th e rising take up of HE can be gained from considering the backgrounds and p erspectives of mature students themselves, their changing relationship to q ualifying and how their return-to-study decisions relate to the contemporar y socio-economic context. The paper concludes by reminding policy makers of the challenge of widening access to HE for disadvantaged groups and brief ly focuses on the potential of the new foundation degree to address this is sue.