GROW

Across Europe, 11 million university students (80%) combine their studies with paid employment. A highly relevant question, therefore, is how students’ lives are affected by student employment in the long run. Yet, existing segmented research has failed to provide a comprehensive approach to assess the implications of student employment for students later in life: It has remained unclear who gains and risks when working while studying, and under which conditions. GROW will take a holistic approach, jointly analysing the positive and negative effects of student employment for educational and labour market outcomes. GROW will bridge segmented theoretical views from psychology, sociology, and labour economics by implementing a life course approach, creating a more comprehensive, nuanced, and interdisciplinary understanding about the implications of student employment for students’ lives. Empirically, GROW will make use of high-quality longitudinal data from four carefully selected European countries: the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland. GROW will emphasise gender and social origin differences in patterns and implications of student employment, as well as differences across students’ fields of study, and national contexts.

GROW will be implemented starting from September 2025 and will last for two years. The project is affiliated to the INVEST Research Flagship Centre at the University of Turku in Finland.

The project includes an ambitious dissemination and communication plan targeting academic scholars, policy makers, managers of European Higher Education, and Higher Education Students. As such, the GROW project aims at strengthening the Social Dimension of the European Higher Education Area and contributes to the UN Sustainable Development Goals 4 (quality education) and 10 (reduce inequality).