International students in higher education: the effect of student employment on academic performance and study progress

Even though there is an increasing number of degree-mobile students in Europe, not much is known about the effect of student employment on academic performance and study progress for international students. International students broadly engage in student employment during their studies. They differ in several characteristics from native students (e.g., by financial situation, language skills, and time spent on studying) and are a heterogeneous group (e.g., by country of origin, educational background, and intention to remain in the destination country). This study explores whether student employment and different dimensions of employment (e.g., study-related employment, employment amounts) affect the semester grade point average and the share of achieved credit points per semester. Using the first four semesters of a longitudinal study of international students in Germany and hybrid panel models (n = 1625), the study shows that students with a higher study-related employment tendency across semesters have, on average, better semester grades. When estimating the within-student effect, it is demonstrated that changes to student employment and different employment dimensions do not change the semester grades. In contrast, starting employment or increases in employment amounts (e.g., more hours per week) decreases the share of achieved credit points per semester. However, only specific student groups (e.g., students studying mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering) experience a delay in their study progress due to higher employment intensities.
Author(s): Theresa Thies [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) Bavarian State Institute for Higher Education Research and Planning, , Lazarettstraße 67, 80636, Munich, Germany Introduction International student mobility has increased across almost [...]