Higher Education as an additional mid-life transition

Abstract

Older female students form an important contribution to higher education in the UK given the propensity for older cohorts to be largely made up of women (UCAS, 2018). This narrative case study explores the experiences of a group of female students aged 39-55 at a satellite campus of a university in the North West of England who have entered higher education for the first time as non-traditional students and manage multiple roles in addition to their student status. The findings suggest that this group of women are motivated to study and achieve by a desire to remain active in a professional environment and to prove their capabilities to themselves and others. However, these motivations are challenged by transitional events relating not only to the
process of becoming a student but to mid-life stages. Events which may not currently be recognised or supported by higher education institutions.