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In most European countries, the proportion of adult students among both full-time and part-time workers has increased significantly over recent decades. Undertaking paid work is also increasingly common among traditional students. The opportunities to work while studying depend largely on the role of employers in promoting learning. However, both theoretical frameworks and empirical studies typically focus on the behaviour of firms in providing training. The support of employers for formal adult education has remained a marginal topic. The aim of this article is to analyse the contributions of employers to the acquisition of higher education from the perspective of the adult learners; [the authors] investigated how employers support their staff in higher education studies. [The authors] also tried to identify which kinds of learners have a better chance of receiving various benefits. [The authors] used two different data-sets: quantitative data from a study of adult students in higher education; and qualitative data from interviews with managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises and at least one employed participant in formal adult education, collected in the framework of the international research project 'Towards a lifelong learning society in Europe: the contribution of the education system' supported by the EU Sixth Framework Programme.

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