Abstract
The move to mass higher education (HE) prompted increased debate about the relationship between earning a degree and employability. Some commentators have claimed that the UK economy cannot supply enough jobs for the graduate ‘glut’ (Brown and Hesketh, 2004), whilst others have claimed that the link between graduation and enhanced employment prospects remains strong (Brennan et al., 2001; Purcell and Elias, 2004). What is relatively uncontested, however, is that, in the context of increasing competition for graduate jobs, some students ‘are better placed than others’ (see also Elias et al., 1999; Redmond, 2006: 120; Purcell et al., 2007).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Adnett, N. and Coates, C. (2000) ‘Mature Female Entrants to Higher Education: Closing the Gender Gap in the UK Labour Market’, Higher Education Quarterly, 54 (2): 187–201.
Blackburn, R.M. and Jarman, J. (2006) ‘Gendered Occupations: Exploring the Relationship Between Gender Segregation and Inequality’, International Sociology, 21 (2): 289–315.
Blasko, Z., Brennan, J. and Shah, T. (2002) Access to What: Analysis of Factors Determining Graduate Employability. Report to HEFCE by the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information (CHERI).
Brennan, J. and Shah, T. (2003) Access to What? Converting Education Opportunity into Employment Opportunity (London: Centre for Higher Education Research and Information).
Brennan, J., Little, B., Shah, T. and Woodley, A. (2001) The Employment of UK Graduates: Comparisons with Europe and Japan. A Report to the HEFCE by the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information, Open University.
Brine, J. and Waller, R. (2004) ‘Working-Class Women on an Access Course: Risk, Opportunity and (Re)constructing Identities’, Gender and Education, 16 (1): 97–113.
Brown, P. and Hesketh, A. (2004) The Mismanagement of Talent: Employability and Jobs in the Knowledge Economy (Oxford: OUP).
Connor, H., La Valle, I., Pollard, E. and Millmore, B. (1997) What Do Graduates Do Next? (Brighton, UK: Institute for Employment Studies).
Davies, P., Osborne, M. and Williams, J. (2002) For Me or Not for Me, That Is the Question. A Study of Mature Students’ Decision-Making and Higher Education (London: DfES (DfES Research Briefing No. 297)).
Egerton, M. (2001) ‘Mature Graduates I: Occupational Attainment and the Effects of Labour Market Duration’, Oxford Review of Education, 27 (1): 135–150.
Egerton, M. (2000) ‘Monitoring Contemporary Student Flows and Characteristics: Secondary Analyses Using the Labour Force Survey and the General Household Survey’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, A 163/1: 63–80.
Egerton, M. and Parry, G. (2001) ‘Lifelong Debt: Rates of Return to Mature Study’, Higher Education Quarterly, 55 (1): 4–27.
Elias, P., McKnight, A., Pitcher, J., Purcell, K. and Simm, C. (1999) Moving on: Graduate Careers Three Years after Graduation — Short Report (Manchester: CSU).
Elias, P. and Purcell, K. (2004) SOC(HE): ‘A Classification of Occupations for Studying the Graduate Labour Market. Graduate Careers Seven Years On’, Working Paper No. 6 (Coventry: University of Warwick).
Feinstein, L., Anderson, T.M., Hammond, C., Jamieson, A. and Woodley, A. (2007), The Social and Economic Benefits of Part-Time, Mature Study at Birkbeck College and The Open University, The Open University/Birkbeck, University of London.
Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (2005) Graduates from Disadvantaged Families, Early Labour Market Experiences, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Ref: 0505.
Gottfredson, L.S. (1981) ‘Circumscription and Compromise: A Developmental Theory of Occupational Aspirations’, Journal of Counselling Psychology (Monograph), 28 (6): 545–579.
HESA (2009/10) Performance Indicators: Widening Participation of Under-Represented Group (Tables T1, T2), Table T2a — Participation of Under-Represented Groups in Higher Education: Mature Full-Time Undergraduate Entrants 2009/10 and Table T2b — Participation of Under-Represented Groups in Higher Education: PartTime Undergraduate Entrants 2009/10 [online] http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2060&Itemid=141 [accessed 30 September 2011].
Hinton-Smith, T. (2009) Lone Parents as Higher Education Students: A Longitudinal Qualitative Email Study. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sussex, Brighton.
Mullen, A.L. (2010) Degrees of Inequality: Culture, Class and Gender in American Higher Education (Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press).
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (11/2/2009) Correction Notice, Labour market Statistics, February 2009.
Osbourne, M., Marks, A. and Turner, E. (2004) ‘Becoming a Mature Student: How Adult Applicants Weigh the Advantages and Disadvantages of Higher Education’, The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning, 48 (3): 291–315.
Purcell, K. and Elias, P. (2004) Graduate Careers Seven Years On: Short Report (Manchester: HECSU).
Purcell, K. and Hogarth, T. (1999) Graduate Opportunities, Social Class and Age: Employers’ Recruitment Strategies in the New Graduate Labour Market (London: Council for Industry and Higher Education).
Purcell, K. and Pitcher, J. (1996) Great Expectations: The New Diversity of Graduate Skills and Aspirations (Manchester: Higher Education Careers Services Unit).
Purcell, K., Wilton, N. and Elias, P. (2007) ‘Hard Lessons for Lifelong Learners? Age and Experience in the Graduate Labour Market’, Higher Education Quarterly, 61 (1): 57–82.
Reay, D. (2003) ‘A Risky Business? Mature Working Class Women Students and Access to Higher Education’, Gender and Education, 15 (3): 301–317.
Redmond, P. (2006) ‘Outcasts on the Inside: Graduates, Employability and Widening Participation’, Tertiary Education and Management, 12 (2): 119–135.
Richardson, J.T.E. and Woodley, A. (2003) ‘Another Look at the Role of Age, Gender and Subject as Predictors of Academic Attainment in Higher Education’, Studies in Higher Education, 28 (4): 475–493.
Weil, S.W. (1986) ‘Non-Traditional Learners within Traditional Higher Education Institutions: Discovery and Disappointment’, Studies in Higher Education, 11: 219–235.
Woodfield, R. (2011) ‘The Relationship between Age and First Destination Employ-ability for UK Graduates: Are Mature Students Disadvantaged?’ Studies in Higher Education, 36 (5): 409–425.
Woodfield, R. (2007) What Women Want from Work. Gender and Occupational Choice in the 21st Century (Baginstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
Woodley, A. and Simpson, C. (2001) ‘Learning and Earning: Measuring Rates of Return among Mature Graduates from Part-Time Distance Courses’, Higher Education Quarterly, 55 (1): 28–41.
Woodley, A. and Wilson, J. (2002) ‘British Higher Education and Its Older Clients’, Higher Education, 44 (3–4): 329–347.
Yorke, M. (2001) ‘Outside Benchmark Expectations? Variation in Non-Completion Rates in English Higher Education’, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 23 (2): 147–158.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Ruth Woodfield
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Woodfield, R. (2012). Mature Women Students, Study Motivation and Employability. In: Hinton-Smith, T. (eds) Widening Participation in Higher Education. Issues in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283412_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283412_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-33636-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-28341-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)