PART-TIME STUDENTS AND EMPLOYMENT: REPORT OF A SURVEY OF STUDENTS, GRADUATES AND DIPLOMATES

Transcription

1 PART-TIME STUDENTS AND EMPLOYMENT: REPORT OF A SURVEY OF STUDENTS, GRADUATES AND DIPLOMATES John Brennan, Jonathan Mills, Tarla Shah and Alan Woodley November 1999

2 The views expressed in this report are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education and Employment. Crown Copyright ISBN

3 CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 1. INTRODUCTION MEASURING CAREER PROGRESSION STUDENTS AND THEIR REASONS FOR STUDYING EMPLOYER SUPPORT CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROGRESSION CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY 53 APPENDIX I: THE QUESTIONNAIRES 54 APPENDIX II: LINEAR INTERPOLATION 63 APPENDIX III: AGGREGATION OF SUBJECT GROUPS AND QUALIFICATIONS APPENDIX IV: AGGREGATION OF ETHNICITY AND AGE 68 APPENDIX V: TABLES

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5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 THE PROJECT 1.1 This report is based on a project funded by the Department for Education and Employment as part of its Higher Education and Employment Development programme. The project, a feasibility study on the collection of employment data on part-time students, graduates and diplomates 1, was carried out between September 1998 and October 1999 by the Quality Support Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (QSC) in conjunction with the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS), the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Anglia Polytechnic University, Nottingham Trent University, the Open University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Westminster, and Wolverhampton University. 1.2 As part of this project, a survey was undertaken of nearly 6,000 part-time students from the six participating universities. Most of these students were either enrolled upon or had recently graduated from first degree or diploma courses. The survey explored how parttime study had affected their employment and career situations. Data from the survey was augmented by data on the sampled students from the Higher Education Student Record held by HESA. 1.3 An overall response rate of 36% was achieved with a slightly higher response rate from current than former students. Response rates varied significantly between the six participating universities. 2.1 The effects of part-time study on career progression 2 RESULTS OF THE PROJECT Most part-time students are in work before and during their studies as well as after them. Consequently, the project was concerned with changes that had taken place in the 1 The project s main report, entitled Part-time Students and Employment: Report of a Study of the Collection and Use of Information on the Employment of Part-time Students, Graduates and Diplomates, was published in November

6 employment situation of the students and the extent to which these changes had been influenced by their studies Changes occurred in the following respects: Employment status - Around 70% of the respondents had been in full-time employment before, during and after their studies - Of the rest, around 13% were in part-time jobs - There was a small amount of movement over time from full-time employment into part-time work Income - 54% of graduates and 34% of current students experienced significant increases in income - The median increase since enrolling in higher education was 28% for graduates and 14% for current students Management responsibilities - 30% of graduates and 17% of current students had increased their staff management responsibilities since enrolling on their courses Self-reported career changes - 55% of graduates reported that they had made career changes for which their parttime course had been crucial or helpful - 37% of current students reported career changes for which their course had been crucial or helpful The effects of part-time study upon employment vary according to a number of factors of which the student s reasons for study are particularly important. Reasons for study differ between subjects with technology students expressing the strongest career motivations for study. 84% of the graduates from technology-related subjects reported that their courses had been crucial or helpful to career changes. The equivalent figure for social science, humanities and education graduates was 43%. 6

7 2.2 Reasons for study Students embark upon part-time study for a variety of reasons of which career advancement is only one. Reasons for study vary particularly strongly according to age as Figure 1 below indicates. Figure 1: Reasons for study according to age of student % under over 49 Mainly career Mainly interest Age Men are more likely than women to study for career-related reasons, 57% of men giving this as their main reason compared with 49% of women Age and gender differences in reasons for study can be related to differences in subjects studied, e.g. older students being more likely to study combined studies and social sciences, humanities and education; younger students more likely to study engineering, technology and building, business studies and law. More women than men took courses in business studies and law, social sciences, humanities and education, and combined studies. 2.3 Employer support for students Undertaking part-time study is not an easy option for students, especially for the vast majority who are combining study with full-time or part-time work. In these circumstances, the support of the student s employer can be crucial. The extent of employer support varied for different types of student Employer support varies universally with the age of the student as Figure 2 shows. Note that it controls for different reasons for study. 7

8 Figure 2: Employer support by age group, controlling for reasons for study Time off and help with fees (%) under over 49 Age Employer support also varies with ethnicity, this despite the fact that students from ethnic minorities tend to be younger and to have career-related reasons for study. White students were more than twice as likely to be given time off and a contribution to their fees than were ethnic minority students Men were much more likely to receive support from their employers than were women. Of men and women who gave career advancement as their principal reason for study, 60% of men but only 34% of women were given time off and a contribution to their fees by employers Large employers are more than twice as likely as small employers to support students. Figure 3 shows that the likelihood of support grows with the numbers of people employed. Figure 3: Employer support according to size of employer Time off and help with fees (%) No. of employees Students who had support from their employers were more likely to experience employment-related benefits of increased income, greater managerial responsibilities and 8

9 career changes (Figure 4). Figure 4: Career benefits to graduates according to level of employer support % Income increased Management responsibilities increased Course helped career change Support w ith fees and time off No support Given that the recent National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (Dearing Report) based its decisions on the funding of part-time students on the belief that most part-time students were funded by their employers, the findings of this study that many receive no support at all and that what there is varies significantly by age, gender and ethnicity must require further investigation if access objectives are to be a priority for parttime as well as full-time students. 2.4 Student characteristics Are some people likely to benefit from part-time study more than others? The results of this survey suggest the following: Gender - Men were more likely than women to report that their course was crucial or helpful to career changes (62% of male graduates compared to 49% of female graduates). - Male graduates reported more substantial increases in income (from time of enrolment in higher education) than female graduates (30% compared with 21%). However, there were no gender differences in the income increases of current students. - Male graduates are more likely than women to have gained greater managerial responsibilities (34% compared with 26%). Ethnicity - Notwithstanding the fact that students from ethnic minorities are more likely to study for career reasons and are more likely to study courses directly relevant to employment, these students reported lower income increases than white students 9

10 (ethnic minority graduates gained 21% compared to 28% for white graduates). - Ethnic minority graduates were less likely than white graduates to experience career changes but more likely to regard their courses as crucial or helpful in making those changes. Age - There was a negative relationship between age and increases in income as is clear from Figure 5. Figure 5: Changes in income according to age (graduates) Increase in income between enrolment and 6 months after graduation (%) Under Over 49 Age - The above relationships hold even when differences in reasons for study are controlled. - There was also a negative relationship between age and the usefulness of courses in making career changes. Figure 6 indicates this. Figure 6: Role of course in making career changes according to age (graduates) Course crucial or helpful to career changes (%) Under Over 49 Age 10

11 3 CONCLUSIONS The results of this survey suggest that there are substantial personal economic benefits to be gained from engaging in part-time study. A majority of the respondents were able to command better jobs and salaries at the end of their courses than at the beginning. However, there is a diversity of reasons for undertaking part-time study. Many students do not see part-time study as primarily a contribution to furthering their careers, and those who do may seek to do so in different ways. Employer support is important to achieving employment benefits from part-time study but this support showed significant variation according to ethnicity, gender and age. Young white males appear to have the best chance of getting time off and contributions to their fees from employers. The employment benefits of part-time study differed according to factors such as gender, ethnicity, age and income. There are complex issues of causality that would repay further investigation. But the evidence of this survey suggests that part-time study may increase rather than alleviate inequalities in the employment opportunities for different social groups. The idea of lifelong learning emphasises both the importance of learning throughout a person s lifetime and the value of such learning to employment. The older respondents to this survey, however, were significantly less career-orientated in their reasons for study and enjoyed significantly less benefit from study in employment terms. 11

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13 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Context For all the interest in developing the economic role of higher education in general, and improving the employability of its students in particular, the relationship between parttime study and employment has attracted very little research in the UK. What research there is on part-timers tends to focus on policy issues, especially regarding access (e.g. Bourner et al., 1991; Smith and Saunders, 1991), or to be concerned exclusively with the students of a single institution. Yet developing the employment benefits of part-time study offers the potential to advance discussion of many of the key concerns in current debates about higher education, the economy and society: contributing to local and regional as well as national economies; bringing in an increasingly diverse range of students and providing well for all of them; and working to provide life-long learning to underpin a knowledge society. Part-time students are far more local than the traditional year old full-timers (although she or he no longer accounts for all the full-time population, by any means). By necessity, most choose institutions and courses close to where they live and, in most cases, work (Tight, 1991); few part-time students relocate to study. Their employment is also generally local, and the same factors which kept them in the area to study (e.g. family responsibilities) tend to keep them in the area afterwards. Consequently, by developing part-time provision, universities and other higher education institutions are working for students and employers in their locales and regions, and helping to develop skills and abilities that tend to remain within those locales and regions. Part-time study has long been associated with providing a route into higher education for those unable to take up full-time study, especially mature students. The former polytechnics and colleges, the adult and continuing education sector and the Open University have provided opportunities for many historically excluded from higher education. In the process, part-time higher education has been instrumental in the development of innovative modes of teaching such as distance learning and credit accumulation. Malcolm Tight writes that: 13

14 developments in course content, structure, and assessment have been more prevalent in part-time provision because of its adult focus, inherent diversity and greater market orientation. (Tight, 1991:p119) By offering a more flexible relation between work and study, it offers opportunities to many who could not afford the expense or the personal costs of full-time study. The idea of life-long learning, where study is not a precursor to entry into the labour market but is in a continual relation of dialogue with work as individuals seek to update and expand their skills, has strong affinities with the potential opened up by part-time study. Not only is part-time study a more realistic option for people with career and personal commitments, it is also well suited for an approach to education that looks to develop relations with the world of work as an intrinsic feature of study. As Bourner et al. put it: Part-time students in employment can combine study with full-time employment or with substantial family or domestic commitments. This enables them to relate their learning not only to their prior experience but also to their concurrent experience at work or at home. This in turn enhances the quality and relevance of the learning experience and, where appropriate, enables the learning to be applied as it is acquired. (Bourner et al., 1991:p9) This last point is crucial. Whilst for some in full-time study the world of work might seem a distant and forgettable concept, for the part-timer employment frequently precedes and continues alongside study. Therefore an understanding of the dynamics of part-time study requires an understanding of how that study relates to work for its various students how work shapes study, study shapes work and how students, teachers and others can work to get the most out of both. This study can only provide a starting point. It is one of the outcomes of a feasibility study on the collection of employment data on part-time students, graduates and diplomates that was carried out by six universities 2 in association with the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) between August 1998 and August The study was co-ordinated and led by the Quality Support Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (QSC). 2 Anglia Polytechnic University, Nottingham Trent University, Open University, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Westminster, and University of Wolverhampton. 14

15 The project was funded by the Department for Education and Employment through its Higher Education and Employment Development programme, which supports development work to improve the employability of graduates. It was part of a Labour Market Intelligence in Higher Education theme within the programme, which contained seven projects aiming to promote the use of labour market intelligence in higher education in order to improve institutional planning and individual choice. Through encouraging strategic use of such information the projects sought to help higher education to meet the changing needs and expectations of individuals and employers. 1.2 Methodology The larger study concerned the feasibility of collecting employment data about part-time students and the uses to which such data might be put within institutions. The results of the study have been published in a separate report 3. As part of the study, a survey was undertaken of nearly 6,000 part-time students from the six universities listed above. The students were taking or had taken first degree or diploma courses (with a few exceptions see below). Nearly 6,000 students were contacted during March and April Each of them was sent a short questionnaire (four sides of A4 long) asking them a series of questions about their employment and their careers since just before starting their courses (Appendix I). The mailing-out was carried out by the six partner institutions from which the sample was taken. A label was attached to each questionnaire containing the unique student identifier (HUSID) number for the participant in question. Half of the questionnaires were sent to current students, who were drawn from those half-way through their courses, and the other half to students who had completed their courses during (The two groups are referred to as Current Students and Former Students in this report.) One reminder postcard was sent, between two and three weeks after the initial questionnaire (the precise timing varied between institutions). Completed questionnaires were returned to the offices of HESA, who arranged for the data to be input using an optical character reading (OCR) computer system. The completed data sets were then returned to HESA where they were merged with 3 Part-time Students and Employment: Report of a Feasibility Study of the Collection and Use of Information on the Employment of Part-time Students, Graduates and Diplomates. 15

16 information from the student record (using the HUSID numbers to make linkage possible) to provide more comprehensive socio-biographical and educational information on respondents. 1.3 Sample The responsibility for selecting the sample was left with the partner institutions who chose samples to reflect the patterns of their provision. Two institutions chose to include postgraduate students; the remainder did not, and so this report focuses on respondents who have completed or are taking courses leading to qualifications at degree level or below. The overall response rate was 36%, with a slightly higher response from current (37%) than former (34%) students, from women as opposed to men, and from older students. The breakdown of the respondents can be compared with the constitution of the national part-time student population as reported by HESA. Examining the breakdown of the responses by subject of study against the national figures shows substantial discrepancies in most subject fields (Table 1.1). This is largely a consequence of the differences between provision in the partner institutions in this project from that in the sector as a whole: engineering, technology and building, as well as business studies and law are particularly over-represented hardly surprising when one considers that one partner institution runs a large engineering programme with a major automotive manufacture component and has many students enrolled on built environment courses, another has a major business school and a third has high levels of law provision. Some caution should therefore be exercised in interpreting the findings of this survey as being necessarily representative of all part-time provision at a national level. 16

17 Table 1.1: Respondents by subject of study 4 (%) Subjects Respondents All PT undergraduate students N=1,835 N=393,946 Sciences Engineering / Technology / Building 19 6 Business studies / Law Social Sciences / Humanities / Education Combined The breakdown of the sample by gender is much closer to the national average, with only a slight under-representation of women (Table 1.2): Table 1.2: Respondents by gender 5 (%) Gender Respondents All PT undergraduate students N=1,835 N=393,946 Women Men Table 1.3 shows that the survey has more complete information on ethnicity than the national database. If this is taken into account then the sample is approximately representative. Although the ratio of white to ethnic minority group is slightly higher in the respondents than the national database, it is likely that a disproportionate number of those in the latter for whom information is not held are white. Table 1.3: Respondents by ethnicity 6 (%) Ethnicity Respondents All UK domiciled PT undergraduate students N=1,835 N=385,488 White Minority ethnic group 8 7 Not known Due to the relatively small numbers involved, it was necessary to aggregate subject of study to produce five subject groups: see Appendix III. Respondent figures include all undergraduate respondents. National figures taken from Students in Higher Education Institutions, 1996/97, HESA, 1998 (pp50-51) and refer to all part-time undergraduates in UK higher education institutions. 5 National data derived from Students in Higher Education Institutions, 1996/97, HESA, 1998 (pp48-49) and refer to all part-time undergraduates in UK higher education institutions. 6 National data derived from Students in Higher Education Institutions, 1996/97, HESA, 1998 (pp ) and refer to UK domiciled students only. 17

18 1.4 Limits on analysis The analyses in this report cannot claim to be comprehensive. Time, as ever, is a limitation and this report is only a subsidiary aim of the research project as a whole. Probably more significant are limitations enforced by the size of the sample: complex, multi-variate analyses are extremely difficult when cell sizes are small. Consequently, there are many relationships between variables that it was not possible to examine. It is hoped that our analyses might at least provide material for further research. Certain methodological features of this survey also placed constraints on the extent and nature of the analysis. Most notable were the problems encountered using self-coding of occupational and employer data. With an error rate of >15%, much of the data may still be reliable but it has not, generally, been used in this report where firmer ground is preferred. 1.5 The structure of this report The idea of higher education (part-time or full-time) as an investment for the individual and for the community assumes a positive impact of study on the economic situation of particular students and the economy in general. The first part of this report deals with one of the ways in which these issues are addressed: the impact that higher education has on the career progression of its students. Different ways of measuring this progression are examined and the evidence assessed. Some of the broader problems associated with measures of career progression are addressed. The diversity of part-time students is illustrated by the second section, which examines the relationships between various demographic, social and economic factors and students reasons for study. Different audiences for part-time study appear. The third section deals with another important issue for part-time students, that of employer support. Questions of which students are most and least likely to get support from their employers for their study, in contributions to fees and time off, are looked at, as are issues about the relationship between career progression and this support. 18

19 The final section of the report investigates the relationships between gender, age, ethnicity and career progression. This provides pointers for future research and possible warnings for the development of performance indicators. In order to make the report easier to read, many of the data tables can be found in Appendix V rather than in the main body of the document. These are referred to in the text by the use of an A-prefix: e.g. A3.3 is Table A3.3 in Appendix V. 19

20 2. MEASURING CAREER PROGRESSION The higher education system is frequently defended through a range of arguments about its economic, social and political benefits. These benefits are seen as accruing individually to students and collectively to the society and economy of which they are parts. Debate about the economic benefits of higher education has been central to justifying the continuing expansion of the sector. In particular, studies have attempted to assess the economic contribution that higher education makes to individuals careers through improving their employability. Measuring this contribution is, researchers tend to agree, a challenging task. Most research to date has focused on full-time students and looked to compare the career paths of students after graduation, based on a model of (more or less) progress from compulsory to post-compulsory education and then to work. For part-time students, this model breaks down: most part-time students are in work before and indeed during their studies. Consequently, this project emphasises measures of career progression: how higher education has helped students develop rather than start their careers. This section of the report addresses two main questions. Firstly, it examines the various measures of progression that can be derived from the results of the survey and the evidence of progression produced by their use. Secondly, some of the problems with measuring the impact of higher education on career progression are addressed, using evidence from the survey as illustration. 2.1 Measures of progression The questionnaire provides us with at least six potential means of measuring career progression through comparing respondents situations just before the course and at the time of response. These are: (i) (ii) Income: comparisons can be made on an individual level (proportion of students with increasing and decreasing income) and collectively, by median. Employment status: similarly, individual changes of employment status can be examined as can aggregate numbers in each category. 20

21 (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) Managerial responsibilities: these data can be used as indicators of position within an organisation, but may be confounded by expansion or contraction within organisations or changes of jobs from smaller to larger organisations or vice versa. Occupational codes: since these are organised in a roughly hierarchical pattern, it is possible to measure movement within the list as a measure of progression. Hours worked: these data can be used as a measure of movement from parttime to full-time work, and also to offset data on income. Self-report data on career changes (e.g. promotion, starting new work, better pay, etc.): this information does not require any comparative work, since the respondents have been asked to do that themselves; the form of the question also enabled respondents to assess the importance of their course in effecting the career change. In practice, problems were encountered with the occupational codes. Firstly, the selfcoding did not work as well as hoped, with an error rate of >15%. Secondly, the coding scheme, which was derived from the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), attracted a certain amount of criticism and its categorisation and ordering was questioned. Consequently these data are not used heavily in the analysis. 2.2 Changes in income Current students had been studying for approximately two years when they were contacted. It was around five years since the former students had enrolled on their courses. The data on income (A2.1 - A2.3) suggest that part-time students do increase their income after they complete their courses and, to a lesser extent, whilst they are studying. For former students, the modal class is 10,001 15,000 before the course, and 15,001 20,000 afterwards; for current students the modal category stays at 10,001 15,000, but with evidence of upward movement. In both cases a substantially lower number of respondents report incomes of less than 10,001 at the time of response than immediately before the course. The extent of upward movement is illustrated by Table 2.1, which shows the proportion of respondents moving between income categories. 21

22 Table 2.1: Changes in incomes 7 (%) Former students Current Students N=697 N=844 Increased Stayed same Decreased 7 5 For former students, an absolute majority of those responding experienced increases in income, with some 15% increasing by two categories (i.e. by at least 5,000). The small proportion experiencing falls in income can be partly accounted for by students entering retirement and moving from full- to part-time work (as addressed below). The decision was made to use tick-box categories for the income field to aid computer scanning and to support a high response rate on a sensitive question. However, data organised in this way will tend to underestimate the extent of change, since anyone experiencing a change in income which does not cause them to move to a different category will be recorded as staying the same on this questionnaire, someone could in principle increase their income by nearly 10,000, but still be recorded in the same class (indeed any increase from a starting point of above 50,000 would be seen as no change ). One way of addressing this problem is to use linear interpolation to calculate a median value for sets of respondents. Table 2.2, below, shows the results of using this technique on the income before and now field. Table 2.2: Changes in median income 8 Median income before Median income now Increase Former students 14,890 18,995 4, % Current students 14,447 16,542 2, % While the data point towards a general increase in income for part-time students, both before and during studies, there are two further factors that would have to be taken into account before conclusions as to causality could be drawn. Firstly, expected rises in 7 Only respondents providing a valid response to before and now included 8 Medians derived from all answers to respective before and now categories. See appendix II for details. 22

23 income for these groups would have to be calculated using inflation statistics and income trajectories for people of similar age and background who did not embark upon part-time studies. A second and somewhat more intractable problem concerns the phenomenon of self-selection. To what extent are the people who take up part-time study the sort of motivated people who would win through regardless? 2.3 Changes in employment status The vast majority of former and current students were in full-time or part-time work both before starting their courses and afterwards (Table 2.3). Unsurprisingly, slightly more respondents were retired after their course than before; perhaps more unexpected is the (marginal) decrease in the proportion in full-time work and the increase in those looking for work. Table 2.3: Employment status before and after course (%) Former students Current students Before Now Before Now N=824 N=824 N=1011 N=1011 Full-time paid employment Part-time paid employment Retired Not working and not looking for work Not working and looking for work Other Respondents were asked to enter as many responses as necessary to describe their employment situation: for instance, if they were retired, but in part-time work, they should tick both boxes. In practice, relatively few respondents produced multiple answers and to enable more efficient analysis, the responses were condensed into a single indicator of employment status, coded Not in paid employment and not looking for work, Not in paid employment and looking for work, Retired, Part-time paid work and Full-time paid work in that order. This does involve some loss of data: for instance, if someone responded that they were Retired and in Part-time paid work, they will only have been coded as the latter. 23

24 Tables 2.4 and 2.5 show the patterns of change of employment status, and cast some light on 2.3 above. The decrease in numbers of respondents in full-time paid employment can be accounted for by shifts into part-time work (particularly in the case of current students), retirement, and unemployment. The rise in the number of respondents looking for work should not be read as too worrying respondents may be attempting to change career, and furthermore the figures for just before the course are an unfair baseline since very few prospective students would be able to make the financial and practical commitments necessitated by the course while looking for work. Previous studies of mature part- and full-time students have also found low levels of unemployed people amongst the intake for courses (e.g. Woodley et al., 1987). Table 2.4: Patterns of change of employment status, former students (%) NOW Full-time paid employment Part-time paid employment BEFORE Full-time paid employment Part-time paid employment Retired Not working, and not looking for work Not working, looking for work N=561 N=103 N=24 N=15 N= (6) (2) Retired (0) Not working and not looking for work Not working and looking for work (0) (2) Table 2.5: Patterns of change of employment status, current students (%) NOW Full-time paid employment Part-time paid employment BEFORE Full-time paid employment Part-time paid employment Retired Not working and not looking for work Not working, looking for work N=699 N=116 N=32 N=40 N= (1) (2) Retired (0) Not working and not looking for work Not working and looking for work (1) (2) 24

25 2.4 Changes in managerial responsibilities Respondents were asked to record the number of staff they supervised with responses in bands. Regarding managerial responsibilities (see A2.4 A2.5) reported by former and current students before and after their courses, the figures for current students show little aggregate change, but the data for former students show substantial increases in the proportion supervising 1-5 others, and a similar decrease in those with no managerial responsibilities. Organising the figures by changes shows significant increases in managerial responsibility for former and current students (Table 2.6). In both cases, however, the majority of respondents stay within the same category (although they may have increased responsibilities within that band). Table 2.6: Changes in managerial responsibility 9 (%) Former students Current students N=703 N=845 Increased Stayed the same Decreased Career changes The self-report data on career changes provided by respondents describes the incidence of a range of career changes, and respondents assessments of the importance of their participation in the course and/or their qualifications in those changes. (see A2.6-A.2.9) High proportions of former students reported Better pay (approximately 50%), Promotion (c. 37%) and More specialist job in the same occupation (c. 37%). The use of self-report data allows respondents to interpret the categories for themselves: for instance, to decide whether Better pay includes annual increments; to what extent a new job is a More specialist job in the same occupation rather than a new occupation altogether, and so on. That said, the self-report data are broadly consistent with the reported changes in income and managerial responsibility. 9 Only respondents providing a valid response to before and now included in change tables. 25

26 A majority of those who have experienced career changes describe their courses as crucial or helpful in achieving those changes. Study appears least significant in entering or re-entering paid employment, possibly because respondents were unemployed for reasons other than lack of skills or qualifications (for instance time outside work to raise children). These data can be conveniently summarised by examining the proportion who reported that their study had been crucial or helpful in a career change, and those who did not (i.e. who had not experienced any career changes or who had but did not believe their study to have made a significant contribution). Table 2.7 provides this breakdown. Table 2.7: Course crucial or helpful to career changes (%) Course crucial or helpful to career Former students Current students N=824 N=1011 Yes No Career progression Many of the respondents to this survey appear to have made significant progress in terms of income, managerial responsibilities and career changes. The self-report data suggest that the former and current students attribute much of this progress to their courses. As would be expected, those who have finished their courses have realised more of the benefits Problems with measuring the impact of higher education on career progression We are faced with two main types of problem in measuring the impact of higher education on career progression: firstly, those associated with deciding how much of the observed progression can be attributed to higher education, and secondly with how progression, in terms of a positive impact on individuals careers and employability, can be measured. 26

27 2.6.2 The impact of higher education Putting questions of how progression is measured to one side for the moment, assessing the extent to which that progression can be attributed to participation in higher education poses seemingly intractable problems to the researcher. How can we tell whether the respondents to this survey progressed in their careers because of higher education? For instance, if we examine the data on changes to median income, it is difficult to tell how much of this change is due to study. Not only price and wage inflation (which reduce the real value and the relative gain of increases in income) but also patterns of career development over time regardless of higher education must be taken into account. Even if we were able to account for these changes, for example by comparing the former and current students with an equivalent cohort who did not participate in higher education, there is a further problem of self-selection. It is quite plausible that individuals who undertake further study tend to be motivated to develop their careers and possess the skills to do so to a greater extent than those who do not. As well as the problems of separating and comparing career progression due to higher education from career progression caused by other factors, there are also problems associated with comparing the impact made by different sorts of higher education. Studies on full-time students (e.g. Brennan and McGeevor, 1988) show that different subject areas, for instance, have different relationships to the world of work and so achieve their impact in different ways. Students who study areas with close links to particular vocations tend to achieve career progression more rapidly than those who follow courses of a more general nature, whose transition time tends to be longer. Similarly, younger students with fewer familial responsibilities may face less difficulties in realising the career benefits of their studies than older students who are more constrained in their geographical mobility and ability to tolerate periods of transitional unemployment and so on. Some of these factors are examined below and in other sections of this report Reasons for study 27

28 While the potential benefits of higher education in terms of career development weigh heavily in the considerations of many part-time students, there are of course other social, cultural and political reasons for study. Evidence from this survey suggests, as we might expect, that individuals reasons for undertaking study have a substantial effect on the extent of the career progression that they achieve. Participants were asked to rate their reasons for taking their courses on a five point scale from I took the course to help with my career to I took the course out of interest/for other personal reasons. Table 2.8 shows the relation between students reported reasons for study and changes in median income, with a general correlation between career-orientated study and higher gains in median income. Table 2.8: Changes in median income by reasons for study (%) Former students Current students Aims of study 1 I took the course to help with my career I took the course out of interest / for other personal reasons A similar pattern can be observed in reported career changes, with less careerorientated students both less likely to experience changes and, where they do occur, less likely to attribute them to the course. For instance, only 30% of former students who answered 5 (i.e. the least career-orientated) to reasons for study report better pay, as compared with 60% of those who answered 1, and of that 30% more than half (18%) report that their course was not relevant, as compared with less than a fifth (7%) of the most career-orientated. Likewise with promotion, 48% of the most career-orientated former students report promotion, with all but 3% (less than one-fourteenth) regarding their course as crucial or helpful; only 21% of the least career-orientated report promotion and of those nearly half (10%) describe their course as not relevant. The differing reasons for study are addressed in the next section of the report. However, they pose particular difficulties for measuring the impact of part-time study on career progression because of patterns in the variation in reasons for study: for instance, 28

29 different subject areas attract more and less career-orientated students. One must also, of course, be alert to the possibility of a certain amount of rationalisation of motives when career-related aspirations fail to be achieved Subject of study Examinations of the links between subject of study and reasons for study provide some strong patterns. Table 2.9 shows the percentage of respondents who answered 1, the most career-oriented reason. Engineering, technology and building, business studies and law, and sciences show a strong career orientation. Students in the social sciences, humanities and education, and particularly combined studies, were more likely to be taking courses out of interest or for other personal reasons. Table 2.9: Respondents with a strong career-orientation, by subject of study (%) Subject of study Former students Current students Sciences Engineering / technology / building Business studies / law Social sciences / humanities / education Combined studies This pattern is reflected in respondents reports of career changes, shown in Table Table 2.10: Course helpful or crucial in career changes, by subject of study (%) Subject of study Former students Current students Sciences Engineering / technology / building Business studies / law Social sciences / humanities / education Combined studies It is impossible from the evidence of this survey to disentangle the relation between reasons for study, subject of study and progression. For instance, it is not clear to what extent career-orientated students tend to take particular subjects because of their career benefits and to what extent different subjects produce different results in terms of career progression because of the different motivations of their students. 29

30 However, the evidence of variation in progression by subject of study illustrates both the importance of the different reasons that students have for study, and the possible importance of different subjects impacting on careers in different ways and different timespans Horizontal and vertical career movement An additional problem for using measures such as income or managerial responsibility as measures of progression, and so of the employment benefits of study, is that it focuses only on vertical career benefits. However, many students undertake part-time study not to advance themselves in the same work, but to move to a new profession entirely. To make this move often requires gaining new skills and experiences so that someone who is relatively advanced in one career but wishes to switch to another may find themselves facing an initial drop in income, managerial responsibility etc. while they are gaining experience and skills. Consequently, there can often be a trade-off between vertical and horizontal career development. This can be illustrated by examining the progression data for respondents who reported starting a new occupation and those who reported promotion : i.e. those who experienced horizontal and those who experienced vertical changes (note that many career changes involve a combination of the two dimensions, and so some respondents appear in both categories). Amongst former students, the median income of those reporting promotion increased by 48% since the beginning of their course, as opposed to 41% for those reporting a new occupation; the median income of current students who answered that they had been promoted increased by 34% since the beginning of their course, as against an increase of 20% for current students reporting a new occupation. Nearly half as many again of the former students who reported promotion had increased managerial responsibilities as compared with those reporting a new occupation (57% compared with 39%). Measuring horizontal career changes is probably even more difficult than measuring vertical progression. The SOC system, for instance, cannot easily be used to measure horizontal movement. It does not measure the extent of difference that can be accommodated within one category (e.g. moving from being a librarian to a judge as opposed to staying as a production manager), the greater or lesser transferability of 30

31 experiences and skills between different jobs in different categories (e.g. moving from being a non-graduate to a graduate engineer as opposed to moving from being a labourer to being a psychotherapist), and the blurring of vertical and horizontal movement that the coding system engenders. This problem applies both to reported and intended occupations as recorded by this survey. Relying on self-report data of a new occupation allows respondents to judge whether significant horizontal movement has taken place. However, there are obvious problems of interpretation here we are simply shifting the burden of decision-making from analysts to respondents, who will be better informed but are less reliable (in terms of consistency between respondents). Furthermore this reports on the results of the study rather than the intention in the context of this survey Timing A final, and extremely significant, point is that of timing. The impact of higher education on an individual s career does not have to be immediate. On the contrary, the effects of study may be felt throughout the rest of the individual s life, as they learn how their new skills can be used, or get the opportunity to use their new qualifications in applying for a new post or promotion. Previous studies on full-time graduates have noted that the early career paths of graduates are often characterised by varying periods of transition before the graduates settle into their careers. There is little or no similar research evidence for part-timers; nonetheless, there seems no immediate reason to assume that part-time students are able to effect all the career changes that they might like immediately after completing their courses. Indeed, it is quite possible that there could be systematic variation by age group, subject area or other variables and that surveying soon after completion (as this study did) may give a biased picture. Ultimately, an accurate picture can only be gained by life-long longitudinal studies, thus giving all possible time for the effects of higher education to be felt. However, this is impractical both in terms of the costs involved and the need for more rapid feedback to drive decision-making. Consequently any measure of progression must involve a tradeoff between validity, cost and immediacy. 2.7 Conclusion This Section started with a comment on the general focus in the research literature on the career paths of full-time students. The many and various ways in which part-time 31

32 students relate their courses to their careers, and indeed the extent to which they do this at all make measuring the impact of higher education on their employability a difficult task. However, there appears at least general support from this survey for the notion that individual students do receive career benefits from their studies especially if they are motivated to study by the prospect of those benefits. 32

33 3. STUDENTS AND THEIR REASONS FOR STUDYING Having noted that students vary in the extent to which they undertake part-time study to improve their careers, it is possible to combine these data with other information from the survey to provide an outline of the audiences for part-time study (Blaxter and Tight, 1993). 3.1 Reasons for study by age As we might expect, motivations for study show a substantial correlation with age, with older respondents more likely to follow a course out of interest or for other personal reasons, whereas younger respondents were more orientated towards the benefits of study for their careers. This may be as a consequence of the greater number of older respondents at or near retirement age, the greater difficulty encountered by older applicants for new jobs, and the lesser employment experience (and so possibly greater relative value of qualifications) for younger respondents. 70% of respondents over 49 reported taking their courses for reasons predominantly not to do with their careers (i.e. 4 or 5 ), as opposed to only 10% of those under 26, of whom career reasons were most important for nearly 80%. Table 3.1: Reasons for study by age group (%) Age Group Aims of study Under Over 49 1 To help with my career Out of interest / other personal reasons Reasons for study by gender Analysis of reasons for study by gender shows significant differences between male and female respondents, with females less likely to be studying for their career s sake. The reasons for this are not clear and might make a useful starting point for further research. For the time being, however, it is worth noting that, in this sample, the age profile of women respondents is slightly older than that of men, and that women are significantly less likely to be working in sectors where employers support study. However, women are 33