The new study from the Higher Education Funding Council for England tries to understand why part-time numbers have fallen so dramatically, particularly among undergraduates, since the recession.

Falling public sector employment since 2010, decreasing training budgets, and a more general rise in unemployment ¡°appear to have taken their toll¡± on part-time study, the report says, because students tend to take part-time courses when in work.

But the report offers other explanations for the fall as well. In 2008, the government cut teaching grant for students taking courses that were of a lower or equivalent level to qualifications they already possessed (the ELQ rule).

Also, from 2012-13, undergraduate teaching grant for all but high-cost subjects (such as lab based sciences) has been progressively removed leading to much higher tuition fees for part-time courses.

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There has also been a sharp fall in part-time entrants with financial backing from their employers, the report points out.

¡°The recent economic recession and government policy decisions ¨C some directly and some not directly related to higher education ¨C have created a situation where part-time study has been under pressure from all sides,¡± says Pressure from all sides: Economic and policy influences on part-time higher education.

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¡°Rises in unemployment ¨C particularly public sector employment ¨C appear to have taken their toll. The latter was exacerbated by the austerity measures imposed on the public sector,¡± it adds.

But Claire Callender, professor of higher education studies at the Institute of Education, University of London, said: ¡°We have no sense from this report which are the most important changes driving the decline in part-time student numbers, and as result, what policy responses are needed to stem the decline.¡±

Before the funding changes of 2012-13, around a fifth of part-time undergraduate students qualified for grants and most of these paid no fees at all, she said.

But these grants were abolished for new entrants after 2012-13. Instead they can now take out loans, but to pay far higher fees, Professor Callender said.

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david.matthews@tsleducation.com