Many students at the University of Greenwich choose to study their degree programme part-time. It will take part-time students longer to complete their degrees – six years for a three-year BSc or BEng degree course, for example, or eight years for a MEng/MBiol or MChem degree. However, there are many benefits to studying part-time rather than full-time.
Study around your commitments
Studying part-time allows students who may having caring responsibilities or other commitments to work towards a qualification. For Sarah Qazi, an MSc Food Safety and Quality Management student, studying part-time on this online and flexible degree meant she could study around her family.
This MSc comes as a part-time degree, but most standard courses within the Faculty of Engineering and Science can be studied in part-time mode.
Gain excellent work experience
Some employers may be looking to boost the skills of their workforce and support employees in gaining a qualification, and so may be willing to contribute to the cost of studies. This is known as employer sponsorship.
I had the privilege of undertaking a degree in a BEng Hons Cybernetics, with medical device designer and manufacturer ITL Group fully funding my degree. This has allowed me to gain experience I would not have gained via any other pathway.
Andrew Dean, BEng Cybernetics graduate 2022, Graduate Engineer
Even if an employer does not fund a degree, studying part-time remains an opportunity to work towards a degree while in paid employment. The costs of going to university will also be spread out over this longer period.
Settle back into study
Studying a degree in part-time mode is also a good option for students to wish to settle back into study after a period of time out of education after school. Students can also study an Extended course, which is a course that comes with a foundation year. Foundation years include modules specifically designed to prepare students for their degree programmes and will support them to develop transferable professional and personal skills.
For students who wish to specifically gain work experience, the university offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that come with a year of industrial practice. Students can also elect to undertake a placement year during a degree.
