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Participation in Education: Home-based higher education EXTERNAL AND PART-TIME CAMPUS-BASED STUDENT ENROLMENTS Source: Department of Employment, Education and Training Selected Higher Education Statistics EXTERNAL AND PART-TIME CAMPUS-BASED STUDENTS, 1993 External Part-time Source: Department of Employment, Education and Training Selected Higher Education Statistics
Studying at home and working Many students choose to study externally because of family and/or work commitments and for the convenience and flexibility of external study1. The 1993 Survey of Training and Education targeted people in the labour force, that is, people who were employed or unemployed. Using this survey it is possible to compare the labour force characteristics of part-time campus-based students with those of external higher education students. 72% of external students in the labour force were employed full-time, 20% were employed part-time and about 7% were unemployed. The most notable difference between male and female external students was in the proportion working part-time, 31% of women and about 6% of men. Overall the pattern of labour force status for part-time campus-based students was similar to that of external students. Among employed external students there were more women than men while among part-time campus-based students there were slightly more men than women. 57% of employed external students were women and 48% of employed part-time students were women. Most (79%) employed external students were members of families and most of these were a partner in a married couple (67% of employed external students). 59% of these partners had children under 15. Overall, 57% of employed male external students had dependent children compared to 41% of employed female external students. 21% of employed external students were not members of a family, that is, they lived independently. In comparison, 77% of employed part-time students were members of families, a similar proportion to employed external students, but a smaller percentage were husbands or wives (53%). 60% of these husbands and wives had children aged under 15. 58% of employed external students lived in non-metropolitan areas compared to 25% of employed part-time campus-based students. While this suggests that external studies are attractive to people not living in a metropolitan centre, there were still 42% of employed external students who lived in a metropolitan area but chose to study externally. Employed external students mainly studied for vocational reasons. However, 13% stated that they studied for recreational reasons. In comparison, 9% of employed part-time students studied for recreational reasons. Employed external students were less likely to be overseas born than employed part-time students. 19% of employed external students and 26% of employed part-time students were overseas born. EMPLOYED EXTERNAL AND PART-TIME CAMPUS-BASED STUDENTS, 1993
EMPLOYED EXTERNAL AND PART-TIME CAMPUS-BASED STUDENTS, 1993
Open Learning Australia Open Learning Australia (OLA) evolved from the successful commonwealth funded TV Open Learning pilot project carried out in 1992. The pilot project was intended to extend access to first year degree courses by delivering them by television in conjunction with traditional education materials. Interested students could participate at three levels: simply watch the programs; purchase additional study materials as well; and finally, pay to be examined. The response to the pilot study was well beyond expectations. It was estimated that the project would attract about 500 students. However, 3,739 students purchased study materials for the first study period1. The success of the project led to the introduction of the commonwealth funded OLA which administers courses offered by 18 provider universities3. The great difference between OLA's courses and traditional enrolment at a university is that OLA requires no educational prerequisites and the courses have no quotas. Currently the commonwealth is funding the establishment of Open Net, an open learning electronic support service. Open Net will allow OLA students to communicate with their tutors and fellow students by electronic mail3. In 1994, OLA enrolled a total of 8,909 individual students. Multiple enrolments (there are four study periods in a year) during the year gave a total of 21,771 course enrolments. This is nearly treble the total number of enrolments in 1993 when there were 8,805 course enrolments through the year. In 1994, 55% of OLA students were women and 10% of students spoke a language other than English at home4. 72% of students enrolled in the last study period of 1993 and the first period of 1994 were aged 25 or more. OPEN LEARNING AUSTRALIA STUDENTS(a) (a) Based on enrolments in December 1993 and March 1994. Source: Department of Employment, Education and Training Selected Higher Education Statistics Endnotes 1 Department of Employment, Education and Training (1993) Evaluation of the First Year of the Open Learning Project, March 1992 to February 1993. 2 University of New England (1994) The Directory: Tertiary Distance Education and Open Learning Courses in Australia, 1994. 3 Department of Employment, Education and Training (1994) Directory of Commonwealth Higher Education Functions, 1994. 4 Open Learning Australia unpublished data.
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