By: Claire Wilson BSc. Last Updated: March 2024

We believe that everyone deserves the chance to study towards a degree.

With that in mind, one of our main aims was to develop a programme for mature students that could be as flexible as possible. No matter what your current situation is, this programme can be an option for you.

Let’s take a closer look at that flexibility, and how it will help you finally achieve your degree…

This is the obvious one – but it’s worth highlighting. During each week of study, you have total control over your study plans.

There are:

• No in-person classes
• No zoom classes
• No fixed class times

Your materials are available 24/7 so you choose where and when to study.

It doesn’t matter if you’re working shifts, parent to a young child, in a non-UK time zone… if you’ve got approximately 15 hours free throughout a week, you can definitely make this work.

Not everyone wants to wait until September to start their studies. In fact, if it’s October or February when you decide you finally want to get your degree, it can be very frustrating to have to wait another full year to get started at most universities.

We offer multiple start dates throughout the year for our BSc (Hons) programme so once you’ve made the decision to get started, you’ll never have too long to wait.

Once you’re enrolled, you’ll develop your own personal study schedule in collaboration with your course coordinator.

This is a broad overview of your first year of study.

Not only will you decide how the modules fit into the year ahead (including the timing of any fixed module dates – see this post for more details), you’ll be told your assignment deadlines and exam dates for the year.

You also get the chance to let your course coordinator know about any holidays or prior commitments that mean you won’t be available for study in any particular week.

We know that mature students have a lot of other things to juggle in their lives and by the end of this collaborative process, you’ll know exactly what your year ahead looks like and be confident that you’ve got a plan that will lead to success!

Of course, there’s always room for flexibility later throughout the year if things change. All you ever have to do is get in touch with your course coordinator and let them know what’s going on so they can help you adjust your schedule and keep your education plans on track.

There are always going to be times where things change and you are going to have the best chance of success in a programme where you can make adjustments as you go.

With this in mind, we allow students to “speed up” or “slow down” the delivery of their programme to match their circumstances.

(Please note: there is one module per year that moves at a class pace and individuals have no ability to speed up or slow down within that module. For more information on that – see this blog post. For all other modules, individual students can control the pace …)

To “speed up” delivery, you’ll be issued with more than one week’s materials at a time. This can be useful if you’re going to have more time than usual in a week. For example:

• You’ve got time off work (this is by far the biggest reason students choose to temporarily speed up courses)
• You have extra help with childcare
• You’re going to have a longer commute
• Your shift pattern is temporarily changing

The other reason to request speeding up might be if you have some previous familiarity with the area of study and find you’re getting through things more quickly.

Similarly, “slowing down” the pace of your course means agreeing with your course coordinator that you won’t receive new materials for a week. This can be useful if you’re going to have less time in a week than usual. For example:

• You’re ill
• You’re taking a spontaneous holiday
• You’re doing some overtime at work
• You’ve got to take on some additional childcare responsibilities

By slowing down the pace your coursework never backs up, you’re never scrambling to catch up and you’re certainly never falling behind.

This ability to control the pace of your own course is absolutely unthinkable within a traditional university setting and one of the main reasons our students are so successful within our programmes.

Mature students have so many other moving pieces within their lives, success with a degree programme is most likely when there’s some room for adjustment within it too.

Hopefully you can see that we’ve really built this degree programme with the busy and changeable lives of mature students in mind. We’ve done absolutely everything possible to make this BSc (Hons) as accessible as possible and we can’t wait to see you enrol!

Check out this page and click the big red “apply now” button if you’re ready to get started!