¿Por qué trabajan los estudiantes universitarios catalanes? La influencia del origen social y la organización de las titulaciones en las motivaciones para compaginar estudios y trabajo.

Abstract

The increase of working whilst studying in university has attracted the attention of stakeholders in higher education. Policymakers, researchers and managers of higher education institutions have expressed interest in knowing the effects of the combination of these two activities, as well as its implications for the equity of participation in higher education. Although research on the effects of working whilst studying – mainly in the academic and labour market insertion outputs – has been prolific, it has not been the same with research on students’ motivations to work during their studies; much less has been so the analysis of the influence of students’ socioeconomic background and students’ academic degree on students’ motivations to work. In this way, the present research asks why Catalan students work. The research looked into how students’ socioeconomic background and students’ field of study shape university students’ motivations for working whilst studying. It uses a sequential mixed research design. A first approach to students’ motivations is the analysis of the pathways and trajectories of working whilst studying from pre-university educational stages based on data of the Catalan Youth Survey (EJC17). Secondly, a typology of motivational profiles is generated using the data of ‘Via Universitaria’ Survey (2014). Finally, a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews is carried out to deepen into students' rationalities. The results show that working whilst studying pathways begin from the pre-university educational levels. It is also observed that the students’ motivations include a combination of instrumental and expressive motivations. In addition, there are important differences on students’ motivations between students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. The organization of academic degrees, on the contrary, does not have an important influence in students’ motivations, but in students working hours.

Date of Award	11 Jun 2019
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Jordi Planas Coll (Tutor) & Marina Elias Andreu (Director)