Credit transfer amongst students in contrasting disciplines: examining assumptions about wastage, mobility and lifelong learning

Abstract

While arrangements for credit transfer exist across the UK higher education sector, little is known about credit-transfer students or why they re-engage with study. Policy makers have cited credit transfer as a mechanism for reducing wastage and drop-out, but this paper challenges this assumption and instead examines how credit transfer serves different constituencies of students. Findings are presented from a survey of 256 students transferring credit to the Open University and a review of their Credit Transfer Applications. Half the students were enrolled on arts modules; the remainder of students were studying modules in maths, computing and technology. The findings of this research reveal differences between these groups of students in terms of the origins of their past credit, the quantity of past credit they transfer and the ways in which their current studies are connected to future plans and aspirations.