Making Numbers Work: A Business Course for Mature Sponsored Students Available to Purchase

The problems that can arise when embarking on a teaching programme for mature students who differ widely in ethnic origin and educational background are addressed. One of the major objectives at the outset of the course was based on the acquisition of “study skills”and the induction week proved very fruitful both for staff and students. The Business Economics and Statistics component of the course was carefully structured so that the speed and difficulty of the material covered depended very much on the students′ attitude and confidence,both among themselves and with their peer group. It appears that a“hands on” approach proved very effective in achieving these initial objectives. At some point a trade‐off has to be made between academic rigour and practical plausibility \em\ the desired end result is that this integration of education and commerce can produce thinking and effective (potential) managers.