Supporting part-time students in a full-time world

Abstract

Globally, widening participation agendas outline ambitious goals to increase student enrolments, with an associated increase in student diversity. Part-time study intersects with all equity groups. However, students who study part time have lower success and retention than their full-time peers. The aim of this study is to identify challenges contributing to this disparity and to determine enablers of part-time student success. A mixed methods research approach was used, including Australian public university sector data and a national survey completed by 965 part-time students from 35 Australian universities. In 2024, 35% of Australian domestic university students were enrolled to study part time and the average success rate was seven percentage points lower than for full-time students. The most common reason for studying part time was the need to work. Part-time students valued quality learning and teaching to help with success, including engaging and inspiring teaching, an easy to navigate learning management system (LMS), and recorded lectures.