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Of the many who have looked at the relation between age and performance in universities none has as yet produced a definite answer to the apparently simple question “Do mature students do better or worse than younger students?”

Harris (1940) in the United States found evidence to suggest that younger students tended to obtain better degree results. Similar findings have been made in Britain by Malleson(1959), Howell (1962), Barnett and Lewis(1963), McCracken(1969) and Kapur(1972), in Australia by Flecker(1959) and Sanders(1961) , in Canada by Fleming (1959), and in New Zealand by Small(1966). However, most of these studies were based on samples of students who were generally aged between seventeen and twenty-one and the correlation techniques employed meant that the relationship between age and performance really only concerned this narrow age band. As such, the results probably suggest that bright children admitted early to higher education fare better than those whose entry is delayed while they gain the necessary qualifications. This view is supported by Harris (1940) who discovered that the relationship between age and performance disappeared when he controlled for intelligence. Other studies have shown that those who gain the necessary qualifications and then delayed entry for a year or two are more successful than those who enter directly from school (Thomas, Beeby and Oram 1939; Derbyshare Education Committee 1966).

Where studies have involved samples containing large numbers of older students the results have indicated that the relationship between age and performance is not a linear one. Philips Cullen(1955), for instance, found that those aged twenty-four and over tended to do better than the eighteen and nineteen age group. Sanders(1961) showed that the university success rate fell until the age of twenty or twenty-one, then from about twenty-two onwards the success rate began to rise again. The problem with these two studies is that many of the older students were returning servicemen. They were often “normal” entrants whose entry to university had been delayed by war and many had undergone some training in science or mathematics while in the armed forces. Also, while Eaton(1980) cites nine American studies which confirm the academic superiority of veterans, there is some contradictory British evidence. Mountford(1957) found that ex-service students who entered Liverpool University between 1947 and 1949 were more likely to have to spend an extra year or more on their courses and more likeyl to fail to complete their course.

Some studies have shown that whether mature students fare better or worse than younger students depends upon the subject being studied. Sanders(1963) has indicated that the maturity associated with increasing age and experience seems to be a positive predictor of success for some arts and social science courses. The general finding that older students do better in arts and social science and worse in science and maths is supported by Flecker(1959), Barnett, Holder and Lewis (1968), Fagin(1971)and

Sharon(1971).

Walker’s (1975) study of mature students at Warwick University represents the best British attempt to unravel the relationship between age and performance, he took 240 mature undergraduates who were admitted to the university between 1965 and 1971 and compared their progress with that of all undergraduates. This gave him a reasonably large sample to work with and the timing meant that the results were not distorted by any “returning servicemen factor”. His methodology showed many other refinements. First, he excluded overseas students. Such students tend to be older than average and also to fare worse academically (Woodley 1979), thus influencing any age/performance relationship. Secondly, he used two measures of performance; the proportion of those leaving without obtaining a degree and the degree results of those taking final examinations. Finally, he weighted the degree class obtained according to its rarity value in each faculty.

The following findings achieved statistical significance: (i) In total, mature students obtained better degrees than non-mature students.

(ii) In the arts faculty mature students obtained better degrees than non-mature students.

(iii) Mature students who did not satisfy the general entrance requirements obtained better degrees than all other students.

(iv) The degree results of mature students age twenty-six to thirty were better than those of all other mature students.

Several other differences were noted but they did not achieve statistical significance due to the small numbers involved. The mature student sample only contained thirty-tree women, twenty-six science students and thirty-seven aged over thirty. The aim of the present study was to extend Walker’s work to all British universities so that these and other relationships could be tested out on a much larger sample of mature students.

(Woodley, 1985:152-4)

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