Does working to pay for higher education really harm French academic results?

Abstract

Purpose This paper is the first of its kind to look at first-year undergraduates in France. The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of holding down a job on the probability of students dropping out of higher education or passing their first year. Design/methodology/approach Given the existence of relevant unobserved explanatory variables, probit models with two simultaneous equations have been estimated. The first equation will enable us to explain paid employment or working hours, and the second academic outcomes that allow for dropout. Findings The results show that being employed means students are more likely to drop out during their first year and less likely to pass. The latter finding is comparable with results for subsequent academic years although the impact is greater for first-year undergraduates. The more intensive the work, the greater the adverse effects of employment. Originality/value By refining the research, this negative impact of employment is not verified for all the student profiles. For some of them, e.g., those with honours at the secondary bachelor, employment does not harm their academic results.

Student employment and school-to-work transition: the Russian case

“…The first group focuses on the indirect impact of student employment on future success on the labor market. Papers in this group analyze the relationship between student employment and ET 62,4 student grades or educational attainment (Baert et al, 2018;Beerkens et al, 2011;Bonnal et al, 2019;Dadgar, 2012;DeSimone, 2008;Jewell, 2014;Kalenkoski and Pabilonia, 2008;Neyt et al, 2019). The second group includes articles studying the direct effects of student employment on future labor outcomes such as employability and earnings (Di Paolo and Matano, 2016;Ehrenberg and Sherman, 1987;Hozt et al, 2002;Parent, 2006;Polidano and Zakirova, 2011;Robinson, 1999;Ruhm, 1997).…”

Experiencia laboral durante los estudios y desajuste educativo en el primer empleo en los graduados universitarios españoles

“…Así se ha comprobado recientemente en España a partir de la encuesta ECOVIPEU 2013 (Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida y Participación de los Estudiantes Universitarios): los estudiantes trabajan cada vez con más frecuencia y quienes lo hacen tienden a provenir de familias humildes (Finkel y Barañano, 2014). En tales casos, la igualdad de oportunidades puede verse comprometida, ya que trabajar mientras se estudia reduce tanto las posibilidades de graduarse (Hovdhaugen, 2015) como las de obtener buenas notas (Triventi, 2014), sobre todo si el trabajo es intenso -Sánchez-Gelabert et al (2017) lo advierten en egresados de universidades catalanas, Bonnal et al (2018) en universidades francesas y Baert et al (2018) en Flandes. Corroboran así la evidencia resumida la revisión de la literatura que aparece en Neyt et al (2017).…”

Student employment in France: Hindrance rather than help for higher educational success?

“…The negative impact of student employment on academic achievement, understood as examination success or continuation in higher education, is frequently highlighted for France (e.g. Beffy, Fougère, and Maurel 2009;Body, Bonnal, and Giret 2014;Bonnal et al 2019) and other countries (e.g. Ehrenberg and Sherman 1987;Darolia 2014;Triventi 2014;Hovdhaugen 2015) even if some work is more nuanced about its effects (e.g.…”