Juggling work and university study in 2016 couldn’t be easier

Distance learning, evening study, and other online approaches are 3 ways you could have the best of both worlds

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There was a time when juggling studies with work, social life, and a family was just not possible. Thankfully, though, in the digital age and amid an ever-changing modern-day learning climate, dealing with all of the aforementioned couldn’t be easier with the help of the Internet, along with other options:

Distance learning

This option allows students to learn remotely and without the need for regular face-to-face contact with a teacher in the classroom and, according to The Complete University Guide (CUG), more than 270,000 undergraduates are taking their first degrees by distance learning this year, along with around 108,000 postgrads.

“In recent years, the advent of the Internet and widespread use of the computer has led to a huge growth in distantly delivered tuition and study,” CUG adds among distance learning’s many advantages.

Writing for the Independent, Liz Lightfoot has said: “Distance learning is not confined to higher education. It is possible to take a vast range of school exams, professional qualifications, and workplace training sessions without setting foot in an education establishment.”

Evening study

An increasing number of working and mature people are heading back into higher education to brush up on their skillsets in an ever-changing and competitive job market with this study option taking the lead as a viable option.

With classes usually held between the hours of 6pm and 9pm, students’ days are, therefore, free for study, work, and volunteering, giving learners the best of both worlds. Professor Philip Powell, dean of Birkbeck’s School of Business, Economics and Informatics has said: “Studying in the evening, supplemented by online materials, while working enables students to continue building their careers while gaining a qualification.”

Online approaches

With the recent news that two major UK universities are set to allow students to earn course credits which will go towards their final degree through massive open online courses (Moocs) for the very first time in Britain, juggling work and study will definitely become easier.

The move, announced by online learning platform FutureLearn, will see both institutions allow students the opportunity to study for part of a degree or MBA course before progressing further. Best part? Learners will be able to take part in programs for free, trying out the course experience and checking its suitability for them before making the commitment to pay for a certificate of achievement and final assessment.

The US version of FutureLearn, Coursera, has also recently heralded the arrival of an entirely new way of learning for future students by announcing top universities will offer fully-accredited undergraduate courses online within five years.

Professor Daphne Koller, president of Coursera, told BBC News online degrees can be “more affordable and accessible,” but said it was ‘brand protection’ that has kept leading universities away from completely conforming to the idea. “It’s the perception we need to break,” she insists. But with online learning having already come so far in such a short space of time, it seems only a matter of time before Coursera’s prophecy becomes reality.