Combining University Studies with Work: Influence on Academic Achievement

Abstract

This paper analyses the influence of different combinations of work and study on academic achievement among university students of Yaroslavl region in Russia. The data was collected during the first wave of longitudinal research on the educational and occupational trajectories of graduates of schools and universities conducted by the Institute of Education, Higher School of Economics, Moscow in 2009. The sample consists of 1474 4th and 5th year university students. Five work-study types are defined on the basis of two variables: work schedule and work relatedness to specialty: full-time work outside the specialty field, part-time work outside the specialty field; full-time work in the specialty field, part-time work in the specialty field; and not working during university studies. The results show that working outside the specialty field (full-time or part-time) has a negative impact on academic achievement, whereas the other work-study types do not have any significant effect. The results partly support our hypothesis that different work-study combinations influence academic achievement in different ways and that job relatedness to the academic specialty is a significant characteristic in defining the influence. The paper contributes to the research field of studying attributes of student employment which are responsible for different effects on academic achievement.