Student work is here to stay: how universities can respond effectively

This blog was kindly authored by Professor Adrian Wright, Martin Lowe, Dr Mark Wilding and Mary Lawler from the University of Lancashire, authors of Student Working Lives (HEPI report 195).

Our Student Working Lives report paints a stark picture of how paid work has become woven into the student experience. In the recent HEPI webinar discussing the report, the panel was asked what we would like to see to support students in paid work while studying. The answer isn’t down to one department or process. It requires university departments to work collectively to embrace the modern realities of student life and maximise the benefits of paid work for students.  

Why does this matter?

The hours students work have an impact on engagement, belongingness, likelihood of withdrawal and student outcomes. Furthermore, the quality of work also affects outcomes, with those working reasonable hours in good quality jobs being significantly more likely to obtain a good honours degree. These findings advance conversations about working hours and highlight that job quality is a critical, often-overlooked, determinant of student success. As the HEPI/Advance HE Student Academic Experience Survey points out, 67% of students are working. This issue impacts most students, and in the context of increasing pressure on universities to respond to B3, BCA and TEF metrics. If universities want to close attainment gaps, improve wellbeing, and support diverse learners, a priority needs to be how universities can best support students working while studying.

What universities can do?

Universities can respond by working internally and cross-institutionally to focus on the tensions that students experience and ease pathways for better quality employment, whilst lobbying for better financial conditions for students.

Firstly, universities can ensure institutional practices are sympathetic to the modern-day student experience. This means regularly updating and clearly communicating cost‑of‑living guidance so applicants and current students can plan and make informed financial decisions. Some universities, including our own, are introducing timetables and assessment calendars that shift towards a more inclusive and student-focused model of course delivery.  Also, mitigating circumstances policies provide a vital lifeline for students; therefore, recognising the centrality of paid work enables students to succeed alongside the increased burden of paid work.

Universities can fully integrate students’ working lives into the learning experience. This involves developing credit-bearing curriculum interventions that help students recognise, reflect on, and leverage the transferable skills they gain through paid work, and treating paid work as an integral part of learning. This would further enhance employability within courses, creating a framework to support progression and graduate outcomes.

Universities should invest in expanding careers provision to help students access quality jobs that are meaningful, skilled and career relevant. This would maximise the benefit of curriculum interventions for students and leverage and expand the work careers services in finding quality jobs for students.

Partnership working is an essential part of supporting students in the context of a continuing cost-of-living crisis, improving access to good-quality work and protecting students from inhospitable work conditions that can be detrimental to student success. Universities can use their collective voice, through mission groups and policy responses, to encourage the government to further acknowledge the financial realities of students to influence policy decisions on maintenance loans, grants, and thresholds to ensure financial policy decisions have the most impact, alongside articulating the vital social and economic contribution students in paid work make within their communities.

Partnerships with student unions around employment rights training can ensure students can access good employment advice when needed and lead an important conversation about the quality of employment within student communities.  To support this, universities should work in partnership with local employers and authorities to create structured pathways into meaningful local employment, ensure students can access roles aligned with regional skills needs, and contribute to regional growth and graduate retention.

As this blog makes clear, universities that recognise and respond to this reality will improve academic outcomes, support wellbeing, reduce inequalities, and build stronger relationships with their local communities. However, no one response is more important than another; institutional working is required to maximise the benefits of paid work for students.