Students dedicate less time to studying

Annelore, a second-year nursing student enrolled in a university of applied sciences, has a part-time job in elderly care. "I can't guarantee fixed days during the week because my schedule changes often, so I work weekends." She would prefer two fixed days of classes, as that would enable her to work and organise her self-study sessions.

Rover is in his final year of a bachelor's degree in the Humanities. He works twenty hours a week alongside his studies. "I work behind the bar at a concert hall. It's so much fun because I get to talk to lots of people, but the night shifts are pretty tiring." He admits that his studies sometimes suffer as a result.

Of all 325,000 bachelor's students enrolled at Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences, 62 per cent have a part-time job, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

More and more people are concerned about this development because it is leading students to dedicate less time to studying. It also looks like students are attending fewer classes. How can the tide be turned?

Long hours
Students enrolled in universities of applied sciences tend to work a few hours more than their counterparts at research universities. They often work one or 1.5 days a week (which corresponds to 44 per cent of all part-time jobs in the country). An almost equally large group of students enrolled in universities of applied sciences work between 12 and 35 hours a week. Nursing student Annelore does precisely that, and she does not always find it easy. "It's hard to have free time when you combine a full week of classes with a weekend working in healthcare."

One in eight working students at universities of applied sciences even has a full-time job. Most are final-year students who have already found a "real" job and only have to complete their final assignment.

Research university students are as likely as their peers at universities of applied sciences to have side jobs, but they usually work fewer hours. 60 per cent of them work no more than twelve hours a week. There are hardly any bachelor's students working full-time. However, 18 per cent of master's students do. They write their theses on weekends and in the evenings. 

Fewer hours of study
All that work has consequences for their studies. Take Rover, who works about twenty hours a week. "Despite my zero-hour contract, my employer expects me to come in all the time, even during exam weeks. Work often takes precedence over my studies," he says.

Figures from the annual Student Monitor confirm that students spend less time studying when they have a permanent part-time job. 

Image by HOP. Source: Studenten Monitor 2024, ResearchNed. 

In addition, students themselves say they are spending less and less time studying. Some panic about ChatGPT and other AI programmes, which students have been using to write their papers, though the “study crisis” began much earlier.

In 2018, well before AI chatbots, 60 per cent of students enrolled in universities of applied sciences said they spent over 30 hours a week on their studies, between lectures, seminars, self-study, and so on. But their commitment is waning. In the latest figures, from 2024, the percentage remains just above 50.

Something similar is happening in research universities, at a smaller scale. Around 60 per cent of students spend over 30 hours a week on their studies. It used to be slightly above that, and now it is slightly below. The trend is downward.

60 credits
It is actually strange that students work so many hours alongside their studies. After all, a university education is supposed to take 40 hours a week. The number of credits is also based on this. Some may learn faster than others, but students are expected to devote the entire week to their studies.

Nevertheless, some universities of applied sciences state on their websites that a part-time job is perfectly acceptable. The Christian University of Applied Sciences, in Ede, even advertises that possibility. They say on their website: "You usually have one day off a week, which offers a great opportunity to get a part-time job alongside your studies!" Avans writes: "You will certainly have time left to do some fun things or have a part-time job." Windesheim says succinctly that its bachelor's programmes "can be combined with a part-time job."

Research universities are no different. The University of Twente writes on its website: "Many students wonder if they should work alongside their studies. Should they concentrate on their classes or get a job? Well, the good news is that you don't have to choose. You can do both!"

You can find similar examples elsewhere. Tilburg University has a special page on its website with links to job sites such as bijbanen.nl and studentjob.nl. Utrecht University has its own student job bank.

Part-time work has become so common that students are demanding that universities be flexible. Nursing student Annelore would like to make her own schedule. "But lecturers expect us to be at school from nine to five every day," she says.

Working is easier for Rover, the Humanities student, because he only has classes two days a week. Not only does he work at the concert venue, but he also serves on the university council. That takes up about one day a week.

Compulsory attendance
With an abundance of part-time jobs and less and less time allocated to studying, one thing is certain: students are bound to skip lectures or seminars, especially if they are not required to attend.

Izaak Dekker, a researcher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, analysed the attendance at seven programmes in his institution. They recorded an average attendance of only 30.6 per cent, including compulsory hours. "This means there are only nine students in class on average, while lecturers expect to see thirty." In other words, students attend only three out of ten lectures.

Is this the case everywhere? Nursing student Annelore confirms that her classes are sometimes half full. She tries to attend everything herself, but understands students who live far away and do not want to travel for just two hours of class.

Most people in higher education might be familiar with stories about half-empty lecture halls, but there are few figures to back them up, as attendance is rarely recorded, at least not centrally.

Researcher Rick Ikkersheim (Inholland University of Applied Sciences) specialises in academic success. He calls the lack of figures a blind spot: "Increasing attendance is the shortest route to lower student dropout rates. If you want to tackle this, you first need to know what the current attendance figures are."

Whenever he talks about this, Ikkersheim is often told that absent students are probably unmotivated, but he believes we can't just blame the situation on the students. Instead, we must figure out what is going on.

Software
The sector has been more keen on establishing compulsory attendance. Some universities, such as VU Amsterdam and Leiden University, are making seminars compulsory for first-year Law students and monitoring their attendance with dedicated software.

If a student misses too many classes, the consequences can be severe. In extreme cases, students may be excluded from the exam. And that's not without reason, according to the “compulsory attendance team” at VU Amsterdam. “Missing law tutorials in the first year has consequences for their study progress. They can't buy their way out of it with a resit or a replacement assignment."

Don't students with part-time jobs get into trouble? According to VU Amsterdam, if they are serious about getting their degree, they will attend the compulsory classes and work less if need be.

Sarah Evink, chair of the National Student Association (ISO) is not very fond of compulsory attendance. "Students are adults. They know when they really need to be there. If things go wrong, they learn from that too."

However, she refrains from saying that compulsory attendance is wrong. "I prefer a tailored approach. Decisions about attendance should be made according to each programme."

Dekker (HvA) changed his mind after his research. The empty classrooms affect teachers' motivation, making them enjoy their work less. Not to mention students literally learn less. Dekker: "Teachers have to repeat a lot of material in second and third-year courses because so little knowledge sticks from the first year."

Students in desperate need of extra income
Researchers say that students who attend classes regularly are less likely to drop out. However, it is not clear why. Perhaps they simply work harder, so they would succeed anyway. Students do not always consider classes to be crucial. In addition, life is expensive for many students, and their part-time jobs are educational.

"Without this job, I simply can't pay my tuition fees," says Annelore. "But even if I didn't need the money, I would probably still do it, just for the practical experience." Rover feels the same way. He desperately needs the income to pay his rent, but he says he has learned valuable skills from his jobs at the concert venue and the university council. "It's just nice to work in such different environments."

Both students believe that, in an ideal world, students wouldn't need a part-time job to cover basic expenses, but that is simply not the case. According to Nibud, studying (rent, groceries, tuition fees, etc.) costs almost 1,200 euros per month, while the basic grant for Dutch students not living with their parents is only 324 euros.

A student enrolled in a university of applied sciences earns an average of 833 euros per month from a job or an internship, while a research university student earns 690 euros. Almost four in ten students do not have a part-time job. The question is how they manage to make ends meet.

ISO chair Evink knows the answer: "Some students are lucky enough to have parents who contribute a lot. Others simply cannot have a part-time job, such as Medicine students. They are away from home from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. They accumulate a lot of student debt as a result."

Ultimately, 57 per cent of students say they can easily make ends meet (Nibud, 2024), but many still struggle to do so. ISO is therefore advocating for a higher basic grant: 530 euros.

Happy employers
Should we just accept that students will work anyway and spend less time studying? Employers will probably not mourn this. They benefit from students as a cheap, flexible workforce, which comes in handy in this tight labour market. Many students also work irregular hours.

Annelore and Rover say they prefer fixed working days, but they sometimes run into problems with their changing study schedules. They would like to have fixed days off during the week.

Ikkersheim, from Inholland, understands this. He believes that, first and foremost, study programmes must offer a good structure. Most students need regularity, both in their education and their private lives. "In practice, many students approach their studies as a part-time occupation. If we don't make classes compulsory, they will choose activities that are compulsory, such as work, sport or social gatherings."

As far as Ikkersheim is concerned, there is only one solution: a cultural change. Attendance must become the norm again. He advocates a “mutual obligation”, in which students must attend lectures, especially in the first year, in exchange for committed lecturers and an attractive timetable that allows for a part-time job without compromising student commitment.

Which student works a lot?
The number of students with part-time jobs and the number of hours they spend working vary greatly, depending on their field of study. Approximately 60 per cent of students in universities of applied sciences work, with the education and economics sectors leading in the number of students working (see graph below). 

Part-time jobs in education usually involve more than 1.5 days a week. One in eight students (12.5 per cent) actually work full-time, and this figure does not include internships. In the behavioural and social sciences, the number of students working full-time is higher than 15 per cent. Language and culture students work the least, and when they do work, their part-time jobs usually require fewer hours than those of other students.

On to the figures about research university students. Sixty-two percent of bachelor's students in that category have a part-time job (see graph below), which is comparable to the percentage in higher professional education. Here too, there are significant differences. In the behavioural and social sciences, 71 percent of students have a part-time job. That percentage is less than 50 percent in engineering, agriculture, and the natural environment.

Dropout rates and academic success remain stable
The fact that students are working more and studying less does not immediately affect their chances of obtaining a degree. It does not lead to higher dropout rates, for example. In the first year of higher professional education, dropout rates are 14 per cent, which is lower than before. At research universities, the average is 5 to 7 per cent. However, study success is not particularly high. Many students fall behind. In higher professional education, approximately 52 per cent obtain their degree within five years (with a maximum delay of one year), while only 64 per cent of students enrolled in research universities manage to complete their bachelor's degrees, which are supposed to last three years, within four years. That is alarmingly low, according to researcher Rick Ikkersheim (Inholland). "If higher education were a business, it would have gone bankrupt by now."

There are exceptions, however: at the art college Rietveld Academy, 86 per cent of students graduate within five years, while the Hotel School in The Hague has a first-year dropout rate of only 4.4 per cent. Both institutions have strict selection criteria. The education sector scores highly, with 75 per cent of students graduating with a three-year bachelor's degree in four years, compared to half in the engineering sector.

Student organisation ISO stands up for students. Study delays have acquired too negative a connotation, according to Evink. What is success after all? In her opinion, the pace of study does not matter much, as long as one crosses the finish line. "When you ask students when they consider their studies to be successful, the most common answer is 'obtaining a degree', and the least common answer is 'graduating on time'. Students consider self-development to be more important."

However, if the delay is caused by a lack of income, that's a different story. Evink is concerned about the many students with extensive part-time jobs. "Many students work over 16 hours a week, which is detrimental to their mental health."