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Kuala Lumpur:
International Islamic University Malaysia, 24-26 March 2017
Ahmad Faizuddin
Kulliyyah of Education
International Islamic University Malaysia
Email: akhi.faizuddin@gmail.com
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Working part-time has long been part of university students experiences. Various
changes in terms of funding mechanism have resulted in increasing numbers of students
undertaking employment during their academic studies (Watts & Pickering, 2000).
Although the exact numbers of students working part-time are difficult to determine,
several studies found that between 50 and 60 percent of all university students are
engaged in some forms of part-time jobs (Curtis, 2007; Hkkinen, 2006).
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The issue might be due to the introduction of student loans, which provides a large
extent government funding for university fees. It is then argued that obtaining debt as a
direct consequence of studying will encourage students to get involved in part-time
employment (Metcalf, 2003). Even though many countries, including Indonesia and
Malaysia, have allocated specific budget for education by providing scholarships, but not
all students have the privilege to get them. Thus, loans become an alternative for
postgraduate students to continue their studies (Lucas & Lammont, 1998).
With regard to the above-mentioned issue, researching and investigating the experiences
of postgraduate students who are working while studying is considered significant.
Especially at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), the research in this area is
still limited. This will contribute to future studies in the field of education related to
students experiences who are working while studying. The following research questions
were used to guide the research in answering the main objectives of the study:
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Students engaged in part-time and sometime full-time employment while studying is
increasingly a common phenomenon everywhere. Steinberg et al. (1981) stated over 30
years ago that working while studying provides students with quite naturally an indication
of the requirements that will be needed to function effectively in ones later career (Schill,
McCartin, & Meyer, 1985). In recent years, further studies found that students who are
working part-time can easily develop team working, communication, costumer care and
practical skills (Lucas & Lammont, 1998; Curtis & Lucas, 2001).
Students can directly relate the experiences of working part-time to enhance and improve
their academic knowledge, motivation and employment prospects (Curtis & Shani, 2002;
Curtis & Williams, 2002). Consequently, a number of researches have concluded that a
combination of financial needs and the opportunity to gain experiences will ultimately
enhance career opportunities in the future (Harvey, 2000; Devlin, James & Grigg, 2008;
Nonis & Hudson, 2006).
According to the research conducted by Watts and Pickering (2000), while working part-
time and studying full-time has a variety of positive outcomes, respondents generally
viewed part-time employment as a necessity to survive in the contemporary higher
education sphere. In Manthei and Gilmores (2005) study, it is said that the money
earned from part-time employment was typically spent on essential living expenses.
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Balancing Studying and Working
Curtis and Shani (2002) believed that students who are working part-time will most likely
miss lecturers and feel that they could achieve higher grades had they not been working.
For that reason, universities should be aware of contemporary student lives. They should
introduce an element of flexibility as a means of structuring assignments and course
requirements to support this (Curtis, 2007). Positively, perhaps students might acquire
personal transferable skills, enhance employability and increase confidence in the world
of work (Watts & Pickering, 2000).
However, negatively, students who are working part-time tend to achieve poorer marks
compared to their classmates who are studying full-time. Given that part-time working
students is a common phenomenon, Jogaratnam and Buchanan (2004) suggested that
universities have a moral requirement to more effectively understand and manage the
stressors experienced by students studying full-time and working part-time. Perhaps
providing suitable trainings for students would be an alternative.
Finally, universities who are struggling with the debates regarding the cost or validity of
practical skills training might be able to take advantages of the synergy that exists as a
means of solving these tensions. Consequently, it is the purpose of this study to develop
an understanding of part-time employment amongst postgraduate students. Specifically,
this paper aims to determine the extent of part-time employment amongst International
Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) postgraduate students, to determine the reasons for
engaging in part-time employment in the first place and to find out their strategies to
overcome the challenges in studying while working.
METHODOLOGY
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Data Analysis Procedures
In order to ensure that information obtained from the informants would not be missed
or misinterpreted, the interviews were transcribed verbatim, words by words. The
following six steps were used as a method of transcribing the data:
Step 1 The whole interviews were transcribed verbatim without leaving a single
word or comments.
Step 2 The transcripts were carefully read and examined to validate its accuracy
and clarity. The focus is more to spelling and pronunciation.
Step 3 The transcripts were re-read to find out special statements, key words
and phrases which point to an aspect of phenomenon that reveals something
essential about informants experiences.
Step 4 The transcripts were re-read more closely to figure out the context of the
statements. It aims to interpret essential meanings from key words or phrases to
formulate the main ideas.
Step 5 The main ideas were elaborated to identify the themes. To generate a
theme, interview questions, key words and main ideas were carefully compared.
Several themes from other studies were also compared for a better result.
Step 6 The themes were extracted to match the main ideas and sought
elaboration from experts or inter-raters. Finally, the findings were presented in
the discussion and analysis.
Two trustworthy inter-raters were chosen to check and test the information generated
from the interviews. This step is important to know the credibility and reliability towards
the study. The two inter-raters were doctoral students in educational administration at
the International Islamic University Malaysia. They are given full transcripts and selected
themes generating from the main ideas. The reliability of the researchers coding and that
of the inter-raters was calculated using a formula: number of agreement divided by total
number of agreement plus disagreement. The result shows that the first rater gave 86.66
per cent and the second one gave full point 100 per cent. The total average of both raters
is 91.66 per cent, which indicates a good reliability to confirm the study.
The findings and discussion will be organized according to the research questions and
interview questions. This way, it will be easier to see the patterns and direct responses
from the informants. To keep the privacy of the informants, in the discussion they will
be coded as Informant 1 (F1) and Informant 2 (F2).
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can be inferred that the informants seemed to fully understand the motivation and
reasons behind working while studying. Five interview questions below show various
responses of the informants:
Yes, I have many friends who work while studying. It sometimes make
them have to be absent from the class and often the communication is
done through email. (F1)
Yes, some of them work at formal sector and informal sector. (F2)
What are the differences between student who are studying while working and working while studying?
I would say that students who work while studying, they still focus on
their study, working just to support their study. However students who
study while working, their main focus is to work not to study, so the
result is of course different. (F1)
I think both of them focus on working and studying to get the life
experience (F2)
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Research Question 2 - What are the positive and negative effects of working while
studying?
The second research question looked at positive and negative effects of working while
studying. The findings showed that informants have happy feeling and good time
management. Additionally, they become more responsible and improved their personal
life. Three interview questions below show the responses from the informants:
I am very happy and enjoy what I do. The experience can help me to get
new ideas if I have problem, how to solve it, so it can enrich my
problem solving skills. (F1)
Mainly I am getting experiences from outside the class, how the world
works and how to be responsible to ourselves. (F2)
I try to balance my working hours and study times. How much time I
spend for working, I try to manage my study as well even though I
cannot do it fully because I have to do other things. (F1)
In the research question number three, the focus is on the challenges faced by the
informants and how they overcome the problems. The findings show that among the
effective ways are through good time management and self-reflection. Three interview
questions below highlight the responses from the informants:
Is there any negative impact for you when studying while working?
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Depending on the situation. The bad thing is when we cannot manage
our time efficiently; it will take a longer time to complete the study. I
have to complete my draft of dissertation for several years. (F2)
The main point is how we manage the time efficiently. In doing so, I
believe that we must be healthy. I do exercise; balance the nutrient of
food in order to be healthy so I will be able to manage my time fully.
(F2)
The last research question intended to ask the informants their suggestions and
recommendations for students who have similar condition. Among the suggestions are
the students who decide to work while studying must be first of all committed and
disciplined. They need to manage their time wisely because it is the most essential
element in balancing the work and study at university. As both the informants agreed, it
is not an easy task, but it is doable and manageable as long as the person is responsible in
what he or she is doing. The following two interview questions show the suggestions and
recommendations:
What are your suggestions for students who are working while studying?
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Do you have any recommendations to improve students performance when they have to work?
Treat the time for studying like as the time for working. If you want to
be successful in both working and studying, you must balance the time
for both. (F1)
Finally, the researchers would like to recommend the following issues as implications for
educational practice and future research:
1. For students, working while studying at university level is not necessarily
detrimental to their academic performances. The most important thing if they
work while studying is to get real information and to know how many hours per
week in order to suit with their academic loads at university.
2. For lecturers, working students is something common in todays reality. For that
reason, the lecturers should understand the real life situation of their students.
3. For university authorities, make some supportive regulations or requirements for
students who have to work while studying. Some countries and universities, for
instance, permit their students to take part time jobs, volunteering jobs and
continuous jobs.
4. For future research, it is highly recommended to conduct a more in-depth
research employing mixed methods with a great number of participants or
informants in collecting the data. It is hopefully will have a better result and
implications for similar research.
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