Hennessy, Lisa (2022) “I didn’t know it was going to be such a life changing experience” An inquiry into the experiences and impacts of higher education on a group of mature students. Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

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Abstract

This thesis set out to explore how a group of mature students experienced and were impacted by completing a BA at Maynooth University. The aim of my study was to highlight the experiences of mature students in higher education with a particular focus on the non-academic experiences. This research was underpinned by my own experience of completing a BA as a mature student at Maynooth University and my experiences of working as an educator for twenty years. I am keenly interested in how students experience education. Because of this the student voice was central to my research. For this research I used an inductive approach where I built my argument using data from national and international experts who are interested in the mature student experience in the adult education field and the data that emerged from the voices of the seven students that participated in the interviews. I decided from the outset that it was important to interview graduates that were at least two-years post-graduation, so they had time to reflect on their experience. I applied a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews. I thought this approach suited best as although I had certain questions to ask, but I also wanted the freedom to explore other avenues if needed. The themes that arose from the findings were economic realities, effect on personal well-being, significant learning about the self and society, and social connections. The findings also suggest apart from the academic credentials gained, mature students benefit in many other ways such as, gaining confidence, making friends, and finding their voice. Although each participant reported being ‘stressed’ at some stage during the BA each of them seen their experience as positive overall. I hope my research will give a broader understanding of how mature students experience education and what non-academic gains they can get along the way.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Keywords:	life changing experience; inquiry; experiences; impacts; higher education; group; mature students;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education
Item ID:	17698
Depositing User:	IR eTheses
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2023 08:11
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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