Source: Getty

Haemorrhaging assets: the OU has lost more than a quarter of its total student numbers over the past five years

The decline in the number of part-time students in the UK university sector is a ¡°tragedy¡± for individuals, families and society, according to the new vice-chancellor of the Open University.

Peter Horrocks will use his first speech to call on the next government to put part-time study at the ¡°front and centre¡± of the higher education agenda.

Mr Horrocks, previously the director of the BBC World Service, will point to statistics which show a dramatic decline in the number of students studying part time.

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¡°You don¡¯t need me to tell you that the part-time sector is facing a challenging time ¨C the figures speak for themselves,¡± Mr Horrocks, who joined the OU at the beginning of April and will take up the vice-chancellor post formally on 5 May, is expected to say.

¡°Last year, there were almost 370,000 people studying for an undergraduate degree on a part-time basis in the UK. Five years ago, there were more than 580,000.¡±

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He will describe this 37 per cent decline as 200,000 ¡°life opportunities that have been lost¡±. ¡°I think each of those lost opportunities is a tragedy,¡± he will say. ¡°A tragedy for those individual lives, a tragedy for their families, but also a tragedy for our wider society and economy.¡±

The issue is a particularly sensitive one for the OU, which has lost more than a quarter of its total student numbers over the past five years.

The number fell from about 260,000 in 2009-10 to just over 187,000 in 2013-14.

In terms of full-time equivalent enrolment, the decline was 10,000 over the five years to about 73,500 last year.

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The institution posted a deficit of ?16.9 million in the year to July 2014, with its most recent accounts stating that the ¡°most significant driver¡± of the fall in income was ¡°the reduction in student numbers¡­largely as a result of the funding changes in England that have impacted in the whole part-time sector.¡± All the OU¡¯s students study part-time.

¡°We need to make sure we do more than just get part-time noticed,¡± Mr Horrocks will tell Open University employees, urging both them and the institution¡¯s alumni to ¡°tell friends, family and anyone of influence about the frightening fall in part-time numbers¡± and to ¡°fight for part-time education¡±.

¡°Part-time higher education is just too valuable ¨C to society, to the economy and to those citizens who should have equal access to that opportunity to study,¡± he will say. ¡°We need to fight to make sure that people continue to have that opportunity; we need to make sure we do more than just get part-time noticed ¨C we need it to be cherished and valued, and most importantly, sustained.¡±

Mr Horrocks will make the remarks at an internal university event on 23 April, marking the 46th anniversary of the OU receiving its royal charter.

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chris.parr@tesglobal.com