Why mature students do so well: A lecturer's view

Students returning to study after a break tend to lack confidence in their academic abilities yet, from my experience running the MSc in Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology, this group of postgraduate learners tend to outperform their younger peers. It seems that what these students lack in self-confidence about their study skills is more than made up for in terms of the life skills necessary to get the most out of their courses. They plan workloads, ask more questions and seek more feedback. They also bring experiences.

The term "mature" student is quite interesting. It doesn't really do justice to the diversity of people that it attempts to describe. Anyone who is returning to education after a gap is technically a mature student and with the introduction of the UK student loans for postgraduate students, more and more people are returning to education after a break, be that just one year off or decades out in the real world.  But that step back into academia is a big one and can be quite daunting.  The top questions applicants are asking are:

Intergenerational exchange encourages critical thinking

What days will I be taught?

This is often code for "Can I do this course and work?". Mature students often have jobs or businesses that they can do part-time and/or need to work to fund themselves and in many cases their families. Part-time study and flexibility within programmes is increasingly important. Many universities offer internships, for instance, at Keele students can work on a range of opportunities, earning while building a CV. 

 

How many places are there on the course?   

This is often code for "who will I be studying with?" and  "are they all youger than me?" and "is this competitive and am I good enough?". After being out of the university environment it can feel very daunting coming back. The fact is that there are more students now applying after a gap and it is not unusual to be "mature". In fact, many courses welcome students with some experience of working in an area.  The age range of students is vast and this is no bad thing. Critical thinking is something that we expect our students to develop and the benefit of of having a classroom with lots of varied opinion, experiences and background makes for a rich learning environment. Diverse groups have more to discuss!


So bring on the diversity! There is no such thing as too old to study. Welcoming students with varied backgrounds and experiences in terms of age, culture and academic subject has certainly made my classroom a better, more interesting place.