Part-time undergraduate study in civil engineering — students from the workplace

Abstract

This is an investigation of part-time undergraduate degree study in civil engineering based at Coventry University. It aimed to answer the following four questions: 1. How do the experiences of part-time students of civil engineering compare with those for other subject areas reported in the literature? 2. What is the difference in performance of part-time and full-time students? 3. What are the reasons for the differences? 4. What should we learn from this? The study incorporated three elements: scrutiny of data on student numbers, age and performance; a questionnaire to allow comparison of factual information on the circumstances of part-time and full-time students; and interviews with 21 part-time students (in groups of four or five) and three part-time graduates (individually). The interviews gave insights into the experiences of part-time students of civil engineering and allowed comparison with those in other subject areas. A study of performance by part-time and full-time students for four academic years between 2002 and 2006 revealed that part-time students outperformed full-time students in terms of grade of honours and marks in modules (6.4 percentage marks on average in every module). The reasons for the better performance of part-time students were considered and it was concluded that the greatest advantage comes from the skills, attitudes, and motivation that part-time students have developed in the workplace. Recommendations are made in terms of better support for part-time students and ways of benefiting from the potential contributions they can make.