But it was in keeping with both his intellectual priorities and his reserved temperament that he maintained his commitment to the discipline while never acceding to pressures from either hectic iconoclasm or hardset counter-reaction.Keith Kelsall was the son of a Glaswegian civil engineer and an English- born mother. After a prize-winning school career at Kelvinside Academy he gained Firsts in both History and Political Economy from Glasgow University He then worked briefly for G.K. Chesterton's Distribution Society (which looked towards a fairer distribution of wealth), and, by rather curious contrast, as a tutor for the Bonar Law College at Ashridge; and was then appointed an assistant lecturer at Hull University College, where he began a formidable record of publication with books on industrial relations and their history.He moved during the Second World War to employment for the Ministry of Town and Country Planning in Birmingham, but resumed an academic career thereafter with sociological research at the London School of Economics. This included, in association with a major programme of enquiry led by David Glass into social mobility and professional group composition, both the civil service book and a first-ever survey of Applications for Admission to Universities (1957), commissioned by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom, which paved the way for the extensive socio-statistical investigations that Claus Moser directed for the Robbins Committee a few years later.Kelsall himself built on the interest he thus acquired in the social role of education, and in pathways to and beyond its higher levels, to produce over the 1960s and 1970s a series of informative reports and studies on such issues and their links with social stratification - this on several occasions in fruitful partnership with his wife Helen, an experienced practitioner in education; and on some others with younger colleagues.Sheffield University's School of Social Studies, which Kelsall came to head in 1955, was then a small unit offering non- graduate introductory courses to a range of employments in social welfare. But his quiet persistence and tactful influence offstage secured a solid base for growth. He helped to found the British Sociological Association in 1951, as well as its journal in 1967, and crowned his service as general secretary, treasurer and chair (1957-66) by becoming president (1977-79): all this with dedication, shrewd sense and liberal purpose, yet with a characteristic abstention from fanfare. "Part-time study is the highest proportion of postgraduates and the area most likely to grow," says Molly Temple, pro-vice-chancellor. "People want very flexible postgraduate programmes."Sunderland has degrees for pharmacists and healthcare specialists Computing and information systems are also popular.

Most candidates are in work; many are in their late twenties or thirties. Students enrol to refresh their professional knowledge, and learn techniques that were not available when they took their degrees.With rising fees, limited grants, and the prospect of government restrictions on undergraduate numbers being extended to postgraduate courses, the part- time professional programme is where many universities see the future of higher degrees Students, too, can learn from this trend. A Master's alone is not a short-cut to a job, but it can be an excellent mid-career step.. Keith Kelsall achieved academic distinction in sociology and social history with a minimum of self-display. His style of scholarship was to build knowledge meticulously while leaving interpretation unobtrusive. Perhaps this is why, for example, his outstanding study of the recruitment of Higher Civil Servants in Britain (1955) is less well remembered than its pioneering quality warrants.

When he masterminded the formation of a new department of sociology and social administration at Sheffield University from the late 1950s, he led by scholarly example rather than by managerial direction. New techniques such as distance learning or computer-aided teaching will make it easier for people in work to take a higher degree.At Sunderland University, as many as three quarters of postgraduates study part time; Sunderland's figures are not unusual. Demand for these programmes can only increase as the proportion of the population with a first degree rises."A lot of Master's degrees are geared towards people returning to higher education, or obtaining a qualification after a gap," says Dr Hogan. Degrees with a strong business bias can offer a more secure route to employment, as will "conversion courses", which prepare graduates with a non-vocational degree for more technical work. Increasingly, students considering a research degree in the humanities and social sciences are using a Master's degree as research training.