Third-level colleges fail to meet mature student target

THIRD-LEVEL colleges are still behind target in the number of mature students enrolled on their courses, according to the latest figures published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

There have been higher-than-expected rises, however, in the number of college students with disabilities and from poorer backgrounds.

The HEA’s National Office for Equity of Access set targets in 2001 that 10% of all those in third-level courses would be mature students, aged at least 23. But the numbers have only reached 9.4%, although this is more than double the 4.5% rate in 2001.

The level of students with disabilities has trebled to 2.4% in the same period — well over the target of 1.8% of the student population — while those from families facing social and economic barriers now represent one-in-three in college, compared to a 27% target set when the level was just 16% in 2001.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) believes the lack of supports for part-time students — a large proportion of the mature student cohort — is a barrier to older people taking up third-level courses.

“Ireland is way down the league in terms of mature students, but in places like New Zealand and Sweden, around one-in-four students are 25 plus,” said USI welfare officer Kelly Mackey.

She said it is great to see progress and that the other targets are being met, but that more must be done to get mature students applying for and going to college.

“Among the main barriers are the lack of supports for part-time students, such as maintenance and childcare grants or welfare subsidies for which part-time students are eligible. We know that some evening students are being supported by employers, but the possibility of abolishing part-time tuition fees for some students should be looked at,” Ms Mackey said.

“The typical mature student in Irish colleges is somebody in their mid-thirties, with children and paying a mortgage, who may have no supports at all available to them,” she said.

A report last October for the HEA’s National Office for Equity of Access, set up to increase participation among under-represented groups in college, backs the idea of extending supports available to full-time students to their part-time counterparts.

The latest figures are included in the office’s 2006 annual report, which shows that 2,032 students received funding from its disability fund in the 2005-06 college year, up one-fifth from the previous year.

Dr Mary Liz-Trant, head of the access office, said new targets will be set in the coming months for participation rates by the Traveller community and other minorities.

“Barriers to access — financial, social, cultural — are being broken down,” she said.