HEPI research into the cost-of-living crisis, to be discussed today on Radio 4 Money Box, shows that a significant proportion of universities are open to the possibility of students working part-time during their studies or even encouraging them to do so.
The finding is part of HEPI’s recent research into the crisis, How to beat a cost-of-learning crisis: Universities’ support for students, which investigated how universities were helping students in the context of a growing squeeze on their finances. The research was partly based on a website audit of 140 members of Universities UK and noted the strategies, such as food banks, travel subsidies and laptop loans, advertised as being offered by the university.
The research found that 48% of universities include information about part-time work on their websites, with many providing job ‘hubs’ listing details of jobs to help students with their search. Many advertise jobs on campus, such as working in a students’ union, but many also advertise other jobs in the local area.
This appears to represent a liberalising of attitudes to part-time work among universities. Historically, they might have cautioned students against working part-time. While a small number of universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial still ban their students working part-time, it appears a sizeable number of universities now consider it acceptable to work alongside studying, and even that it is necessary for students to afford to study.
