Part-time higher education may be a market failure in England

Several factors have created a "perfect storm", suggests a report published today by Universities UK.

The number of part-time undergraduates in England may have fallen by up to 40 per cent in the two years to 2012. The reasons are explored in a review commissioned by Vince Cable, the business secretary, which says the decline in part-time numbers “will not be stemmed” when official figures emerge for 2013-14.

It finds that several factors that undermine part-time education: a straightened economic climate that limits employer support for part-time study; tightened household budgets that diminish the appetite for student debt; the changing shape of industrial sectors from which part-time students are traditionally drawn; changing pathways into higher education; changing demographics; funding reforms; and associated rises in tuition fees. Other factors could include: a rise in apprenticeships; an increase in private provision; and the rise of online learning.