NEON Access and Success Academy – Working with Mature Learners throughout the Student Lifecycle

Access Academy Training

The Office for Students (OfS) identify mature students as a key priority group for widening access interventions. According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency 2023/24 (HESA) mature students made up 63% of the student population in UK higher education. Yet, mature students show both lower retention rates and lower degree attainment compared to their younger peers. Understanding the reasons behind this anomaly, and ensuring higher education professionals understand the challenges they face are crucial to better support learners through their educational journeys.

This Access and Success Academy ONLINE course will enable practitioners to:

• Better understand the trends and profile of mature students.
• Analyse what motivates mature students.
• Investigate the risks and barriers they face to successful entry to, and success within, higher education.
• Consider different learning modes that may be more suitable to mature student success.
• Discuss different strategies that can benefit mature students.
• Consider access, transition, retention and student success.

This event will be of particular interest to:

• Senior managers with responsibility for access, transition, retention and student success.
• Outreach professionals who are currently, or plan to, engage with mature students as a key target group.
• Higher education institutions who are seeking to reduce the gaps between mature students and their younger peers as part of their Access and Participation Plans (APPs) or other institutional plans.
• Professionals working within Student Support Services.
• Evaluation and research staff who seek a better understanding of the reasons behind the gaps that currently exist.

Places are strictly limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.