Birmingham university introduces two-days-a-week degrees to make education accessible

University College Birmingham has unveiled a new timetable model aimed at widening access to higher education, as the deepening cost-of-living crisis continues to lock working-class students out of university.

Under the scheme, full-time students will attend in-person teaching on the same two consecutive days each week, a move the institution says is designed to make study compatible with work and family life.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Poole acknowledged the growing barriers facing prospective students, warning that soaring living costs have “changed the reality of who can access higher education.”

Rather than expecting students to uproot their lives, cut back working hours or take on unsustainable debt, she said the new structure offers “a route into university” that better reflects the pressures many now face.

From September, seven courses will be delivered under the two-day model, spanning subjects such as construction management, criminology, finance, marketing and primary education, as well as an MBA. Courses will run between one and three years and are aimed particularly at those able to commute within one to two hours.

via Unsplash

In a further nod to affordability, the university will offer limited, one-night-a-week accommodation contracts for those who need to stay overnight, alongside a cost-of-living allowance of up to £6,000 for eligible undergraduates.

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University research found the main obstacle to entering higher education was not lack of ambition but the “financial juggle” required to survive while studying — a reality long highlighted by student groups and trade unions.

The predictable timetable is expected to appeal to those balancing jobs, caring duties and other responsibilities — groups disproportionately excluded from traditional university models.

While a small number of institutions have introduced similar flexible degree structures, the expansion of such schemes reflects mounting pressure on the sector to adapt to economic hardship and widening inequality.

University College Birmingham says it plans to roll out additional courses under the model, signalling a shift — however limited — towards a system that recognises the realities of working-class life.

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Featured image via SarahG1994 under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 before edits