Integrating an Aging Student Population into Higher Education - challenges for evidence-based policy in Europe

Oct 15, 2026

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Demographic change and the growing need for highly skilled workers are driving renewed efforts in Europe to expand access to higher education beyond traditional university entrants. The shift requires addressing routes into higher education, students’ age, and how central study choices are for a more heterogeneous, non-traditional population. The article reviews current positions and expected developments over the next decade within the Europewide Bologna Process using comparative country data.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Non-traditional students and age as a proxy

New Interest in Non-traditional Students in European Higher Education

Growth in tertiary education for 25-to-64-year-olds

CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 40, No. 3, 2010, pages 25-42 Integrating an aging student population into higher education – challenges for evidence-based policy in Europe Dominic Orr HIS-Institute for Research on Higher Education ABSTRACT Both demographic developments and the need for highly skilled workers have led to renewed efforts to widen access to higher education in Europe. This means looking beyond the traditional clientele of university education in terms of routes into higher education, age, and centrality of studies. Attracting and catering to this more comprehensive group entails rethinking study programs and study environment for a more heterogeneous student body. So where are we now on these issues and where can we expect to be in the next decade? This is a question being raised within the framework of the Europewide Bologna Process for higher education reform. On the basis of data sets being used for analysis within this reform program, a comparison of the situation in selected European countries will be presented. It will be shown that some countries are better placed to deal with the growing number of adult learners than others. RÉSUMÉ Tant l’évolution démographique que le besoin en travailleurs hautement qualiﬁés ont mené à un regain d’efforts pour accroître l’accès à l’enseignementsupérieur en Europe. Cela signiﬁe qu’il faut voir au-delà de la clientèle traditionnelle des études supérieures en termes de parcours d’études postsecondaires, d’âge et de centralité des études. Attirer, puis servir ce groupe plus polyvalent exige de repenser les programmes et le milieu d’études pour répondre aux besoins d’une population étudiante plus hétérogène. Où en sommes-nous aujourd’hui quant à ces questions et quel chemin pouvonsnous espérer avoir parcouru d’ici dix ans? Nous posons la question dans le cadre du processus de Bologne pour une réforme de l’enseignement supérieur, appliqué à l’échelle européenne. À partir d’ensembles de données employées CJHE / RCES Volume 40, No. 3, 2010 Integrating an Aging Student Population / D. Orr 26 pour effectuer des analyses à l’intérieur de cette réforme, nous comparerons la situation dans divers pays européens sélectionnés. Nous démontrerons ainsi que certains pays sont mieux organisés que d’autres pour accommoder une population croissante d’apprenants adultes. INTRODUCTION Higher education is subject to a lot of change and reform at present. This is especially true for European higher education dealing with growth in numbers (and relative percentage) of students, changes to governance structures (Kehm & Lanzendorf, 2006), changes to structures and modes of study (Witte, 2006), and increased private ﬁnancing, especially through tuition fees (Eurydice, 2009, p.143) . Amid all this, another change is occurring – to the student population. In many cases, both policy and practice still focus on the stereotypical students within a certain age bracket, of a certain educational background, and with certain interests (Miclea, 2008, p.70) . Those who do not ﬁt into this corset are termed non-traditional. This latter heterogeneous group is not really new to higher education. However, it might be argued that the characterisation of this group as “an invisible majority”(McNair, 2002) still held true in most policy settings in Europe until recently, despite the formal existence of lifelong learning agendas. One main reason for this might be that it is hard to recognise this group without detailed survey data on educational biographies and relative differences in socio-economic backgrounds. On the basis of just such a data set covering 23 European countries, it will be argued here that simply looking at the age of students provides a useful proxy for recognising non-traditional students. This variable, in turn, has the advantage of being a standard statistic found in university administration and national

FAQs

Why is Europe focusing more on access to higher education for non-traditional students?

Demographic developments and the demand for highly skilled workers have renewed efforts to broaden access beyond traditional university clientele.

What does the article propose as a useful proxy for identifying non-traditional students?

It argues that looking at students’ age provides a useful proxy, supported by the practical and standardized availability of age statistics.

How will the article assess differences across Europe?

Using data sets applied within the Bologna Process, it presents comparisons across selected European countries to show that some countries are better positioned to accommodate adult learners.

Oct 15, 2026

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