Mature students in education

Abstract

We live in a knowledge society and adults want to keep up with the new times, to attain self-fulfilment and or a toehold in the economic sector. The focus of this dissertation is on mature students who entered education and are reading for an undergraduate degree at the University of Malta in 2014. This study analyses the experiences from the perspectives of mature students, the relationship with university staff and their relatives. The objective of this dissertation is to identify the barriers and facilitating factors that enable mature students to further their education. Through a qualitative approach, this research examines the process and integration of mature students at the university. For this purpose face-toface interviews were conducted with fifteen participants- seven females and eight males. This study provides a thorough examination of primary concepts such as adult education, adult learners, mature students, facilitating factors and barriers. These concepts are analysed through educational theories and emphasize that adult education is in the political agenda of developed and developing countries. The focus of this dissertation was on institutional, situational and dispositional factors that facilitated or barred their study. In this research it was clear that mature students were experienced many constraints to further their education. Although, they were motivated, they needed a robust support structure to help them continue with their study. Those who did not receive financial and emotional support would not go on studying.