The number of mature students studying at universities and colleges across Canada is on the rise, according to David Sovka, associate director of marketing and recruitment at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C.
Sovka said he believes the trend is in direct correlation with the state of the economy, and the factors surrounding it.
It’s about “people losing jobs, industries changing — growing and dying and moving on — and other huge shifts in what people do for a living,” he said.
He also said the changing nature of education itself may be prompting older students to go back to school.
“What you studied years ago may just not be required anymore. Or you may just be tired of it and want a change,” he said. “Not all re-education is a desperate thing.”
Carleton’s Bill Ellis Centre for Mature and Part-Time Students (BECAMPS) was created in 1996 and is tailored to “address the unique needs of mature and part-time students at Carleton University,” according to its website.
BECAMPS boasts an expanding library, a computer with Internet access and a refrigerator where mature students can store their lunches. The facility also has an area just for kids.
Still, more changes need to be made in order to accommodate the steady increase of older students, Sovka said.
“The first and biggest change is in how programs are delivered. Most adult students already work full-time, or at least part-time. That means Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. classes don’t work,” he said.
“It’s on us to deliver classes when those students can take them, which means evenings and weekends.”
According to their website, volunteers at the BECAMPS currently help students work around their diverse schedules by assisting with daycare and time management.
Younger students are also accustomed to technology in the classroom while many mature students might not have been in a classroom for years, and aren’t used to the new ways of teaching and of learning, Sovka said.
“We’re talking about students who grew up with chalkboards and, maybe, white boards. That is to say, some of the equipment, classroom layout, dependence on online technologies and resources, etc . . . will hamper some adult students,” he said.
Carleton’s “10 tips for mature students” reminds them to find a new way to learn because many people will process information much differently than the last time they were in school.
It also adds that older students should organize their finances because of the costs associated with studying at university.
However, it advises that students should remember to “step back every now and then and get a little perspective.”
Sovka said there are many benefits to the increasing number of mature students in universities.
“Younger Canadians see their parents studying and, by extension, valuing education,” he said.
The increase in educated adults, Sovka said, leads to benefits for Canadian society as a whole.
“Ultimately, this is a good thing,” he said. “More knowledgeable Canadians in every sector? In the parlance of Facebook: ‘Like.’”