Challenges and Support for Part-Time Students: Lightning Talk at the National Student Engagement Network Meeting

1. Lightning Talk Part Time Students 2nd Meeting of the National Student Engagement Network, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, 8th May 2018 presentation by Dr Maurice FitzGerald Quality Assurance, National College of Ireland, Dublin

2. Who are we? • the National College of Ireland (NCI) is a private, not-for-profit third level institution whose mission is “to change lives through education” • located in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) district in the heart of Dublin, NCI forms a “campus without walls” accessible to all • NCI traces its origins back to 1951 and it is a member of the Higher Education Colleges Association (HECA) • 5,333 students, of whom 58% are part-time, study in the School of Business or the School of Computing

4. meet Melania a single professional from Slovenia, with her work based near Google Docks, and her (expensive) rented accommodation out in Leopardstown, this part-time student is sorted … well, kind of!!! • she attends almost every class, which she has two evenings a week and some Saturdays, normally arriving at NCI with at least two minutes to spare • she meets all her assessment deadlines, even if some fellow students have workload issues • she fills out all her surveys (incl. ISSE), but she doesn’t need a class rep if/when an issue arises, she goes straight to the lecturer/administrator • she doesn’t have time to socialise with her fellow students, that’s unless you count interaction via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc. • she is engaged with her programme, successful completion of which will advance her career, but her part time studies are only a means to an end Who are our students?

5. meet Donnie married and living in a heavily mortgaged home in Swords, his car is older than his kids’ ages combined, his parents are elderly and live near the IFSC, but this is his big opportunity … he’s an apprentice!!! • he didn’t have a great experience in school, so returning to education is quite intimidating • he attends day release classes at NCI as part of the programme, but the learning curve has been steep despite his innate ability with maths • he finds that the assessment deadlines creep up on him, but at least they relate to his work • his home responsibilities and his commute to work mean that he doesn’t have much time for student life, even if his fellow apprentices have created a community of learning • he was ‘volunteered’ as class rep, but he keeps his head down, and he certainly doesn’t ever find the time to fill out his surveys Who are our students?

6. the challenges are many and varied, so policy makers, institutions (individually and collectively), as well as sectoral bodies, need firstly to acknowledge and, in turn, to confront them a recent study carried out by the Higher Education Academy identifies these challenges primarily as: source: John Butcher, “‘Shoe-horned and side-lined’? Challenges for part-time learners in the new HE landscape” (York: Higher Education Academy, 2015), available via https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/shoe-horned-and-side-lined-challenges-part-time-learners-new-he-landscape [3 May 2018] What are our challenges? • flexibility • motivation • student community • information, advice and guidance • disciplinary differences

7. How do we face them? here are some examples: • Career Development & Employability Service the NCI Careers Team pictured at the annual “Just in Time” Careers Fair held last month • Library • online support services incl. ready access to IT Support, Moodle, timetables, etc., for all students

8. some questions more information regarding our project work is available online – see the QA@NCI blog at https://qanci.wordpress.com/ for details