Full-time, part-time, online, or a mix of all three – the variety of postgraduate study options can be bewildering. This wide choice, however, does give scope to suit prospective students’ differing circumstances and lifestyles .
While traditional campus-based courses remain the most popular, there is an increasing interest in online study, with its flexibility and easy access. Edinburgh University’s head of submissions, Iain Sutherland, says that online courses are proving particularly attractive to those students who may have family and work commitments.
As with most universities, he says, advice is available on Edinburgh’s website: “We have a postgraduate recruitment team to help and run postgraduate open days, along with online sessions to give people an overview of what the courses involve .”
Manchester University’s head of distance learning operations, Ian Hutt, says that online postgraduate courses take between two and a half to five years to complete. “Each module runs over 10 weeks and we like people to commit about 15 hours a week to study. We have study advisers to help people schedule their time.”
And if a course dovetails with what they’ve done before, he says, “it can work well – especially as many come with experience and renewed vigour from previous learning”.
Matt Broadway-Horner preferred the campus option and, after searching for a full-time postgraduate course that would accredit him as a psychotherapist, enrolled at Goldsmiths, University of London. “The full-time course required one full day per week of teaching and supervision in a class, plus one clinical morning. It made my week rather tight, but that kept me focused on getting the assignments done on time .”
It’s proved very beneficial as Broadway-Horner recently returned to Goldsmiths in a teaching and scholarly position, and has authored books and research on the LGBT experience, particularly sexual and mental health, and the ageing process.
Alternatively, part-time study in class, while demanding, allows students to keep working while they study. Mother of two girls, Jan Noble, opted for this route, so she could maintain her job, but also enjoy interaction with other students.
“I was in my mid-40s and working as a nurse manager in a hospice. I went into King’s College London to do a part-time master’s in advanced nursing practice in palliative care,” she says. “I was very privileged, as funding was arranged by my employer. However, if I left within two years after completion, I would have had to pay a percentage back,Reckoned as one of the top design universities with diversity of programmes, polyu fashion and textile, as well as applied science programme, which is committed to be a hub for innovative design education in Hong Kong.
“It was quite an effort – while my friends were going out, I stayed in and studied for three years. But it’s made a huge difference to my life and career.”