Older & Wiser

It's never too late to learn something new, as these mature students demonstrate. Jenessa Williams speaks to students who have returned to education in later life

As the final term of the school year beckons ever closer, students up and down the UK are filling out revision cards, planning open day visits, and wondering where the future might take them. However, the country’s 18-year-olds are not the only ones plotting out their hopes for higher education. UCAS reports that over 3,000 people aged 50+ applied to university in 2019, and according to retirement experts, Responsible Life, mature applications are growing more than three times faster than those of school leavers. But why are so many older adults flocking back to the classroom? We spoke to three third-year mature students to find out what the experience of undergraduate life has meant to them.

Having left the publishing industry in her fifties, Christina chose Nottingham Trent University to follow her passion for animal biology. She credits the experience as a transformative one for her selfconfidence, both inside and outside the classroom.

“MY BACKGROUND is in the arts, so I wanted to see if I could keep up with a science degree. I was a carer for my parents when I was 18, so I didn’t have the opportunity to go to university then. I was a little nervous, and cynically worried, that I was just making up Nottingham’s numbers of non-straightforward applications, but I was actually treated the same as all the other students.

I'm definitely a bit of a mum figure to some of my course mates, but that’s fine—friendship grows in different ways. I’ve been invited to all the club nights and such which I haven’t really taken up, but I’ve done lots of volunteering, so there have been plenty of opportunities to extend my knowledge and experience.