Compared to ten years ago, balancing between work and study has become more challenging for university students. According to Universities Australia Students Finances Survey (2017), four in five domestic students are working while attending school. The amount of paid work has resulted in an adverse impact on their university performance. Students sometimes have to give up their lectures or tutorials because of work schedule conflicts.

Talking to many friends during my course, I realise that a majority of BCM students are doing a job during their study as well. Each person has a unique way to cope with their university assignments along with their work duties. A poll on Twitter has given me an interesting insight into the amount of time dedicated to study by BCM students, which is surprisingly higher than my expectation.

Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to bring up this topic and research further into different methods that people use to juggle between work and university. I am interested in exploring some effective approaches that BCM 212 students are currently employing to maintain a work-life balance. I believe that this topic will be of value to my peers because it helps suggest ways to have a productive life without burnouts and stress.

As a full-time student with a part-time job, I am also aware that my experience with the topic can affect my perspectives and potentially introduce some assumptions along the way. Hence, I will try my best to conduct both quantitative and qualitative surveys in order to form an objective view of this matter.

Full-time tertiary education students have long been recognised to take on part-time work during term time (Hansard, 1993). In the Journal of Further and Higher Education, Lowe and Gayle (n.d.) have found from their collected data that a majority of tertiary students incorporate study with work and/or family duties. Barely any dedicates themselves entirely to study. Hence, most students have to deal with a challenge of finding a work/life/study balance. Typically, full-time students devote 30 hours per week to uni work and 16-20 hours to their job. Meanwhile, part-time students allocate 10 hours per week for study and 40 hours for work.

Although students, as stated by Linguard (2012), do not perceive work as a considerable challenge to their lecture and tutorial attendance, they imply that having a job presents certain difficulty in participating in independent learning activities, for example, ultilising library resources or reading beforehand to get ready for classes.

Despite the value of a degree to proving a student’s ability in his chosen field (or if nothing else, demonstrating that he is capable of waking up on time), effectively maintaining an industry-relevant job while attending uni indicates that the student is an enthusiastic, active, and devoted individual (Cheney, 2017). Therefore, there are a variety of tactics developed by students, whether it is high-achievers or ones who place average focus on study, to enable them to pursue career and education goals at the same time. It has been explored further by Lowe and Gayle (n.d.) that there are four kinds of ‘balance’ characterised as

‘the permeability of the boundary between study and work and/or family and the students’ success in negotiating and managing agreement and equilibrium’.

The first category (known as an optimum balance) is indicative of separation and compartmentalisation. Students fit in this category usually consider studies as a discrete part of their lives on which other areas have negligible impact.

On the other hand, students on the second category exhibit integration. A typical student under this type would arrange a space for study within his occupied life and makes sure that he has the support and collaboration from other key parties to ensure the entirety of their activities correspond.

The third category (having troubles balances study/work/life) is identified with overlapping co‐existence. In general, students belonging to this definition have endeavoured to attain integration, yet, achieved only moderate success. The permeability of boundaries is dependent upon continuing compromise among study, work, and life. Therefore, the balance is unpredictable and in danger of breakdown.

The fourth classification (clashing responsibilities resulting in pressure) is defined by instability. Usually, ones who fall under this category have no solid plan to fit in time for study within their lives. Their management of boundaries is contingent on exigencies of various parts of their lives at various occasions, which is typically unstable and stressful.

With an upcoming plan to conduct a research on this topic, I am looking forward to further examining study patterns of students in order to achieve work/study equilibrium while identifying similarities and differences between theories (from previewed papers) and reality.

REFERENCES:

‘2017 Universities Australia Student Finances Survey’ 2017, Universities Australia, viewed 26 March 2020, <https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/180713-2017-UA-Student-Finance-Survey-Report.pdf&gt;.

Cheney, J 2017, ‘The art of balancing study and work’, Arts Hub, weblog post, 11 September, viewed 26 March 2020, <https://www.artshub.com.au/education/news-article/career-advice/professional-development/jeanette-cheney/the-art-of-balancing-study-and-work-254387&gt;.

Hansard 1993, ‘Students’ financial difficulties, House of Lords’, London: HMSO, vol. 17 February, col. 1161.

Linguard, H 2012, ‘Balancing Study and Paid Work: The Experiences of Construction Undergraduates in an Australian University’, Australasian Journal of Construction Economics and Building, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 41-47.

Lowe, J & Gayle, V n.d., ‘Exploring the work/life/study balance: The experience of higher education students in a Scottish further education college’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 225–238, viewed 22 March 2020, <https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edselc&AN=edselc.2-52.0-77954430362&site=eds-live&gt;.