Improving the first year experience by helping part-time students to succeed in a full-time world

University processes, support and government funding are skewed towards full-time students. It is therefore not surprising that studying part-time is one of the leading predictors of failure and attrition in higher education. To meet the anticipated future demand for university graduates, it is critical that the sector bring innovation and fresh aspiration for initiatives supporting part-time students as they transition to university, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds.
How can we work together across the curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular spaces to enhance successful student transition to university? What are our strengths, limitations and opportunities?
Charles Sturt has a high proportion of part-time students. From 2019-2024, the Charles Sturt Retention Team developed a national, award-winning whole of university framework to support students to succeed in first-year. In 2025, Aspro Kelly Linden was awarded an ACSES Fellowship to gain insights into how we can better support part-time students.