Balancing Time – University Students’ Study Practices and Policy Perceptions of Time

Ulriksen, Lars; Nejrup, Christoffer

doi:10.1177/1360780420957036

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In England, for example, an implicit contrast is drawn between those students who work hard and are thoroughly deserving of their degree outcome and others who have not shown such commitment and yet have been unfairly rewarded with a 'good degree' as a result of 'grade inflation' (Brooks, 2018a). Similarly, in Denmark, the figure of the 'lazy' student has been used as a foil for introducing a range of reforms intended to encourage students to progress through their studies at a faster pace (Brooks, 2019;Ulriksen and Nejrup, 2020) while, across Europe more generally, reforms associated with the Bologna Process have sought to increase the 'efficiency' with which students move through their HE, with implied consequences for how hard they are expected to work (Nielsen and Sarauw, 2017). It is thus possible that such discourses serve to underline the expectation of hard work but also, through the assertion that some students are lazy, provoke a reaction in which individuals are at pains to stress their hard-working nature.…”

Section: Common Constructions Of Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Higher Education Students: Contested Constructions

Brooks

Abrahams

2020

Sociological Research Online

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There are currently over 35 million students within Europe and yet, to date, we have no clear understanding of the extent to which understandings of ‘the student’ are shared across the continent. Thus, a central aim of this article is to investigate how the contemporary higher education student understands their own role, and the extent to which this differs both within nation-states and across them. This is significant in terms of implicit (and sometimes explicit) assumptions that are made about common understandings of ‘the student’ across Europe – underpinning, for example, initiatives to increase cross-border educational mobility and the wider development of a European Higher Education Area. Drawing on data from students across Europe – and particularly plasticine models participants made to represent their understanding of themselves as students – we argue that, in many cases, there is an important disconnect between the ways in which students are constructed within policy, and how they understand themselves. The models produced by participants typically foregrounded learning and hard work rather than more instrumental concerns commonly emphasised within policy. This brings into question assertions made in the academic literature that recent reforms have had a direct effect on the subjectivities of students, encouraging them to be more consumerist in their outlook. Nevertheless, we have also shown that student conceptualisations differ, to some extent, by nation-state, evident particularly in Spain and Poland, and by institution – most notably in England and Spain, which have the most vertically differentiated higher education systems. These differences suggest that, despite the ‘policy convergence’ manifest in the creation of a European Higher Education Area, understandings of what it means to be a student in Europe today remain contested.

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Section: Common Constructions Of Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Higher Education Students: Contested Constructions

Brooks

Abrahams

2020

Sociological Research Online

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“…Scholars have also noted the shame that can arise from a perceived failure to meet new time imperatives (Shahjahan, 2020). Although the majority of work in this area has focused on staff rather than students, a small number of studies, conducted in countries where students have historically had some discretion about the length of their studies, have shown how students have come under increased pressure to complete their degrees at a faster pace (Nielsen and Sarauw, 2017; Ulriksen and Nejrup, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher Education Timescapes: Temporal Understandings of Students and Learning

et al. 2021

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This article draws on data from six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) to explore the higher education timescapes inhabited by students. Despite arguments that degree-level study has become increasingly similar across Europe – because of global pressures and also specific initiatives such as the Bologna Process and the creation of a European Higher Education Area – it shows how such timescapes differed in important ways, largely by nation. These differences are then explained in terms of: the distinctive traditions of higher education still evident across the continent; the particular mechanisms through which degrees are funded; and the nature of recent national-level policy activity. The analysis thus speaks to debates about Europeanisation, as well as how we theorise the relationship between time and place.

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“…Empirical examinations of the impact of these reforms have suggested that students feel they are sometimes restricted to a superficial and instrumental engagement with their studies, choosing 'safe routes' through their studies, to maximise their chances of passing their exams and completing their studies in the required time (Nielsen and Sarauw, 2017;Sarauw and Madsen, 2020). Moreover, there is often a poor match between how 'study time' is understood within policy and by students themselves (Ulriksen and Nejrup, 2021).…”

Section: Denmarkmentioning

confidence: 99%