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AnexampleofliteraturereviewOfthemanywhohavelookedattherelationbetweenageandperformanceinuniversitiesnonehasasyetproducedadefiniteanswertotheapparentlysimplequestion“Domaturestudentsdobetterorworsethanyoungerstudents?”Harris(1940)intheUnitedStatesfoundevidencetosuggestthatyoungerstudentstendedtoobtainbetterdegreeresults.SimilarfindingshavebeenmadeinBritainbyMalleson(1959),Howell(1962),BarnettandLewis(1963),McCracken(1969)andKapur(1972),inAustraliabyFlecker(1959)andSanders(1961),inCanadabyFleming(1959),andinNewZealandbySmall(1966).However,mostofthesestudieswerebasedonsamplesofstudentswhoweregenerallyagedbetweenseventeenandtwenty-oneandthecorrelationtechniquesemployedmeantthattherelationshipbetweenageandperformancereallyonlyconcernedthisnarrowageband.Assuch,theresultsprobablysuggestthatbrightchildrenadmittedearlytohighereducationfarebetterthanthosewhoseentryisdelayedwhiletheygainthenecessaryqualifications.ThisviewissupportedbyHarris(1940)whodiscoveredthattherelationshipbetweenageandperformancedisappearedwhenhecontrolledforintelligence.Otherstudieshaveshownthatthosewhogainthenecessaryqualificationsandthendelayedentryforayearortwoaremoresuccessfulthanthosewhoenterdirectlyfromschool(Thomas,BeebyandOram1939;DerbyshareEducationCommittee1966).Wherestudieshaveinvolvedsamplescontaininglargenumbersofolderstudentstheresultshaveindicatedthattherelationshipbetweenageandperformanceisnotalinearone.PhilipsCullen(1955),forinstance,foundthatthoseagedtwenty-fourandovertendedtodobetterthantheeighteenandnineteenagegroup.Sanders(1961)showedthattheuniversitysuccessratefelluntiltheageoftwentyortwenty-one,thenfromabouttwenty-twoonwardsthesuccessratebegantoriseagain.Theproblemwiththesetwostudiesisthatmanyoftheolderstudentswerereturningservicemen.Theywereoften“normal”entrantswhoseentrytouniversityhadbeendelayedbywarandmanyhadundergonesometraininginscienceormathematicswhileinthearmedforces.Also,whileEaton(1980)citesnineAmericanstudieswhichconfirmtheacademicsuperiorityofveterans,thereissomecontradictoryBritishevidence.Mountford(1957)foundthatex-servicestudentswhoenteredLiverpoolUniversitybetween1947and1949weremorelikelytohavetospendanextrayearormoreontheircoursesandmorelikeyltofailtocompletetheircourse.Somestudieshaveshownthatwhethermaturestudentsfarebetterorworsethanyoungerstudentsdependsuponthesubjectbeingstudied.Sanders(1963)hasindicatedthatthematurityassociatedwithincreasingageandexperienceseemstobeapositivepredictorofsuccessforsomeartsandsocialsciencecourses.ThegeneralfindingthatolderstudentsdobetterinartsandsocialscienceandworseinscienceandmathsissupportedbyFlecker(1959),Barnett,HolderandLewis(1968),Fagin(1971)andSharon(1971).Walker’s(1975)studyofmaturestudentsatWarwickUniversityrepresentsthebestBritishattempttounraveltherelationshipbetweenageandperformance,hetook240matureundergraduateswhowereadmittedtotheuniversitybetween1965and1971andcomparedtheirprogresswiththatofallundergraduates.Thisgavehimareasonablylargesampletoworkwithandthetimingmeantthattheresultswerenotdistortedbyany“returningservicemenfactor”.Hismethodologyshowedmanyotherrefinements.First,heexcludedoverseasstudents.Suchstudentstendtobeolderthanaverageandalsotofareworseacademically(Woodley1979),thusinfluencinganyage/performancerelationship.Secondly,heusedtwomeasuresofperformance;theproportionofthoseleavingwithoutobtainingadegreeandthedegreeresultsofthosetakingfinalexaminations.Finally,heweightedthedegreeclassobtainedaccordingtoitsrarityvalueineachfaculty.Thefollowingfindingsachievedstatisticalsignificance:(i)Intotal,maturestudentsobtainedbetterdegreesthannon-maturestudents.(ii)Intheartsfacultymaturestudentsobtainedbetterdegreesthannon-maturestudents.(iii)Maturestudentswhodidnotsatisfythegeneralentrancerequirementsobtainedbetterdegreesthanallotherstudents.(iv)Thedegreeresultsofmaturestudentsagetwenty-sixtothirtywerebetterthanthoseofallothermaturestudents.Severalotherdifferenceswerenotedbuttheydidnotachievestatisticalsignificanceduetothesmallnumbersinvolved.Thematurestudentsampleonlycontainedthirty-treewomen,twenty-sixsciencestudentsandthirty-sevenagedoverthirty.TheaimofthepresentstudywastoextendWalker’sworktoallBritishuniversitiessothattheseandotherrelationshipscouldbetestedoutonamuchlargersampleofmaturestudents.(Woodley,1985:152-4)