I’m poor. Of course I am; I’m a student. So I took some initiative and went and got a part-time job. I told my employer I would work on Thursdays, a day I had no lectures. My timetable changes, and although there are a number of these tutorials going on in the week, I am not allowed to go to a different one. The member of staff I spoke to told me that although it was in her power to change it, she wasn’t going to because “a job is not a good enough reason.”
The unhelpfulness of this member of staff has appalled me. There is no rule about not having a part-time job; in the past there have been part-time jobs fairs, different academic departments ask for students to work for them. We are constantly being told that we need to get work experience and that a degree is not enough. So why is it that now I’m on the brink of losing my job?
Part-time jobs are a great way to earn a bit of extra cash, get to know people outside of the student bubble and get some good work experience. Why is it on the one hand we’re told to go out there and get involved, to work, yet when it actually comes down to it we’re given little support? The hypocrisy here is unbelievable – if the University’s policy is to encourage students to have part-time jobs, then they should follow through with it at every level.
This member of staff said that she would change my timetable if I had a clashing lecture. A job was not deemed to be a good enough reason to invoke the same change. Although lectures are essentially the main reason we are here, the University should encourage us in our part-time work. We learn a huge amount from hands-on experience, and if we balance our time appropriately, we will only learn more and it will not hinder our education. We need to get out of the student bubble regularly, meet people that we wouldn’t normally meet, gain skills that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to gain in University; all in order to expand our knowledge and get out of our comfort zone. Surely this is a good thing? Surely we need to be encouraged to do this?
It’s obvious that the University simply are not getting it right. There needs to be a clearer policy on part-time jobs to avoid the situation that myself and many others have found ourselves in. The University should either encourage us properly or not at all. Of course, I believe that they should encourage us, but if they only want to meet us half way it would be best that they didn’t at all, then there wouldn’t be this much confusion.
The University needs to decide on their policies; the confusion, and unhelpfulness towards their students will only lead to increased resentment from the student body. They need to work with us, not against us.
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