A day in the life...

Karen Stunt is in her first year, studying Applied Social Science

I come into university three days a week. The teaching hours are scheduled to fit around schooltime, which is ideal for people with children. It means that we can still spend time with our families and there aren’t any additional childcare costs.

7am

There’s no time for morning study, as I’m getting my two daughters ready for school – packing their lunchboxes, making sure they have the things they need for the day. We walk to school and arrive just before 9am. Then I walk on to university.

10am and 11am

We have two lectures in the mornings. At the moment, we’re doing a sociology module, so  we’re joined by people studying sociology on the joint honours programme. I’m really enjoying the lectures and I feel as if I’m just soaking up the information.

12noon

After two hours of lectures we have a break for lunch. A group of us usually chat over sandwiches about what we’ve learnt during the morning. It’s really supportive – we often talk through each other’s queries.

1pm

We have seminars with our tutors in groups of about 12 people. We talk about the reading that we’ve done during the past week, and discuss questions that have come up from the morning’s lectures.

2pm

I’ll either stay here to study in the library, or head home to do half an hour or so before I collect the girls from school. We do homework together, I’ll cook tea and we eat together before bath and bed.

7pm

The girls are in bed – they’re allowed to read if they’re not tired! This is the main time I have for study, until my own bedtime at around 10 or 10.30.

James Norris studies Business and is in his second year at university

I work full-time managing a local pizza takeaway as well as studying. I knew it wouldn’t be easy juggling work and study and it’s getting harder as I head into my third year, but I’m getting used to it and I’m enjoying the challenge. I could have studied this course in Brighton in two years, but I couldn’t have carried on with my job if I’d had to travel.

Tuesdays are a pretty typical day for me. It is a full-time course but we only have three days of lectures, so I try to squeeze in some studying on days when we don’t have classes and on Sunday.

9am

I head to the gym for a wake-up session.

11am

I spend an hour catching up on paperwork and sorting out the rota for the coming week.

12 noon

We have one-to-one personal development planning with our tutor Tony Greener, keeping track of our career plans and personal portfolio. It’s an intensive and thorough session.

1pm

I meet up with some of the other guys on the course to go out for a bite to eat. It’s good to have the chance to socialise.

2pm

We have a three-hour lesson. We’re studying decision-making. The first hour is a lecture, but in practice it’s a reaxed and interactive classroom session. The next two hours are in a computer room. For some modules, we’ll do independent research at this point. It’s practical, useful time.

5pm

I finish at university and go round the corner to work. It’s a long evening.

12 midnight

I finish at work and round off the day with a quick trip to a 24-hour supermarket to pick up my tea...