35% of Australian uni students are part-time. But higher ed is still geared towards full-timers

According to new research highlighted by The Conversation, most Australian universities are still built for full-time students, even though a third of their students—over 360,000 people—study part-time, most by necessity: they need to work and manage family responsibilities. The result is stark: part-time students drop out at more than twice the rate of full-timers, and their average pass rate is six percentage points lower. What they're asking for is straightforward—flexible scheduling, recorded lectures available in advance, simpler extension policies that don't penalize work or childcare obligations, and help fitting mandatory placements around their lives. As one part-time student told researchers, universities don't acknowledge the juggling required just to show up. The fix isn't complicated, but it requires universities to redesign for how students actually learn.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton