UK institutional responses to undergraduates' term-time working

In the UK, there is currently considerableinterest in the nature and extent of full-timeundergraduates' term-time working. Thisinterest stems from at least two perspectives.First that as the system of student financingin the UK has changed, so has the extent towhich students need to boost their incomethrough employment. The second perspective isthat, in addition to financial benefits,students may be able to derive learningbenefits from term-time working: hence,institutions have developed processes by whichstudents might be helped to recognise in anexplicit way learning derived from experiencesof working.Behind such institutional responses tostudents' term-time working may well liequestions of equity and access: are certaingroups of students more or less likely toundertake paid employment during term-time. Andwith such questions comes an interest in theimpact of term-time working on the studentexperience and on academic performance.The paper looks at recent research findings inthe area and considers to what the extent UKinstitutions' own activities are a pragmaticresponse to the realities facing the currentgeneration of undergraduates, and to whatextent they may be damaging the overall studentexperience.