Women Students Are Ruling The Online Learning World

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Online education has become the need of the hour for many aspiring learners and professional who want to earn a higher education qualification and gain relevant skills for career development. Today, you can find a wide range online programmes and courses offered by various universities and online platforms. By expanding the reach of education, online learning has increased the accessibility of education and enabled millions across the world to build their careers by gaining required skills. However, experts have observed that globally there are more female online learners as compared to men.

Why do women dominate the Online Learning Scene?

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Amanda Tutlewski wanted to finish her master's degree in nursing, but as she has 2 small kids and regularly travels a long distance for work, pursuing a traditional course simply did not seem feasible to her. Hence, she decided to study online and began looking for suitable courses offered by online platforms and universities. Eventually, she opted for the online master's programme offered by Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. After Amanda moved to Key West, Florida from Indiana with her family after a few months for her husband's career commitments, the move seemed smooth and seamless. After completing more than half of her programme, she claims that she would opt for an online course again without a second thought.

Amanda said “It's convenient and it's flexible.”

The fact is, female learners like Amanda Tutlewski are currently dominating the online learning sphere on a global scale. In spring 2015, more than 70 per cent of online undergraduate level learners were women as per a recent study. At the graduate level, over 72 per cent of learners were women.

Growing volume of Female Online Students

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Latest data from the U.S. News reveals that some online courses at bachelor's level comprise of almost only women. During 2013-14, many online institutions across the US like D'Youville College, Sacred Heart University, @stephenscollege , Dakota Wesleyan University, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, University of Missouri-St. Louis, saw the highest percentages of undergraduate students who were women. This was observed from the 224 ranked courses from which data were collected, excluding programmes that are female-only. Academic experts believe that there are a number of probable reasons for this evident gender inequality in online education. One of the most feasible reasons is that more women are now keen on earning higher education qualifications in general. A new report released by the National Center for Education Statistics in May 2015 reveled that girls comprised around 56 per cent of undergraduate students and over 59 per cent of graduate learners in fall 2013.

Empowering Women Professionals

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Carol Aslanian, senior vice president of Aslanian Market Research and author of the new research of online learners, believes that another probable reason for the growing number of women in online learning courses may be related to the type of career they have.

She said “Women tend to enter professions where continuous education is needed and degrees and certificates are valued and even required. Education, the social services, the health professions - all have requirements for further education to move up the career ladder.”

Linda L. Strong, associate professor of nursing at Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, supports this claim and believes it is one of the primary reasons why 94 per cent of online undergraduates at the institute are women. Another prominent reason for this trend is the fact that online education allows women to effectively balance their jobs, studies and family commitments, irrespective of their career type.

Even the education consultants agree with this fact. 

Women’s Domination In Online Education. More Women In Virtual Education! http://t.co/jaPJ3XfBLW

— Mark William (@UKMarkWilliam) August 14, 2015

What do you think? Feel free to share your own thoughts, opinions and experiences with us by commenting below.

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Student Or Employee: What Is Better For PhD Candidates ?

Recently, it was announced that Queen Mary University of London is planning to modify the status of their PhD students and identify them as employees. However, this has resulted in some confusion and concern among both students and educators. Let's take a look....

Queen Mary Uni considers to change PhD student status to employees https://t.co/2Jc8GigLvI via @timeshighered

— Christine Stohn (@TINEIRS) June 28, 2015

Is being a student better?

Most of the current students at the university are now getting concerned regarding how this decision will affect their pay. Presently, the stipends of these students are exempt from tax. As a result their acceptable but not excessive income can be easily compared to the salaries of other graduates. If the students lose out on their student status then it will surely mean a cut in their earnings via taxation or may be through an offsetting rise increase in their funding. Hence, training for PhD student will become much more costly and sponsors and funding units will be able to facilitate lower number of PhD candidates. This is surely not a favourable outcome.

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Tom Livermore, PhD Student at University College London, said “While I recognise that there are advantages associated with employment, I believe that remaining a student provides significant benefits of its own and better reflects the training element of a doctorate.”

How it will affect PhDs :

However, Queen Mary University of London, along with Eurodoc, which represents European PhD candidates, believe that shifting the status of students to employees would help in improving recognition of the contribution made to research by PhD students.

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Livermore added “Perhaps I have been fortunate, but I don’t feel that my status as a student affects either the recognition or treatment that I receive. I do not feel that being a student discourages me from contributing to the scientific debate in my lab, my department or at conferences.”

“The benefits of remaining a student outweigh those associated with employment. If by becoming employees we risk reducing access to PhD training through fewer available places, visa restrictions or simply putting off those not destined for academia, then I fail to see the advantage,” he said.

Is being an employee more beneficial?

However, the fact remains that there are two sides of a coin and while some are worried about the changing status, others believe that it will be truly a beneficial move for current PhDs. Many experts believe that pursuing a PhD in a broad sense gives the feeling of being employed, but only until things are going right. Although current PhD students tend to work throughout the day for 4 years on a specific and fixed salary, they do not get any added benefits like pensions, sick leave or even maternity/paternity leave.

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Jamie Gallagher, postdoc and public engagement officer at the University of Glasgow, said “I spent four years working over 40 hours a week in a lab. I turned up every day, I wrote papers, I did experiments, I had duties and responsibilities – except I wasn’t “working” I was “studying”. That distinction is significant. I took home £1,150 a month, about the same as an administrative assistant, but I didn’t pay tax. In exchange for not paying tax on the few thousand earned above the tax free income allowance I handed over my employment rights.”

He concluded by saying “If a PhD student can write papers, present their data and work alongside academic staff, it is time to acknowledge their work as work.”

Let the UK students decide.

What do you think about PhD students getting recognised as employees? Share your views and opinions with us by commenting below.

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