Supporting student entrepreneurship could also boost lecture attendance

Many academics have been surprised and disappointed that students have not flocked back to physical lectures post-Covid. But there are several entirely understandable reasons for low attendances, with the need to earn money top of the list.

A recent report by the Sutton Trust suggests that half of UK students have missed lectures due to their need to do paid work. A recent survey in Australia mirrors these findings: the cost-of-living crisis has forced nine out of 10 students into part time work, at the potential expense of their grades.

It is often recommended that students do no more than 15-20 hours of paid work per week, but even when they stick to those limits, the interference with studying can be considerable. Of the jobs students take in term time, more than 50 per cent are in retail or catering. Unfortunately, the shifts are not always compatible with lecture timetables and assignment deadlines, and they tend to pay the minimum wage. Other jobs, such as delivery driving, involve zero-hours contracts, making working hours and pay unpredictable.

Could those 15-20 hours be used more lucratively and less disruptively if students employed themselves? In India, for instance, many microbusinesses that contribute to the country’s high level of entrepreneurial activity are run by women, who can fit their enterprise around childcare commitments. And during Covid, UK families where one parent was made unemployed drove a large rise in registrations of new businesses, from cake-making to web design, as the laid-off parent sought to fit paid work around home-schooling.

For students, entrepreneurial activity can also be more interesting than regular jobs, and future employers greatly value the range of skills and initiative they develop. For overseas students planning on applying for an entrepreneurship visa, it is a good chance not only to test their ideas but also to show they are serious about starting their own businesses.

The kinds of self-employment that students can pursue flexibly include babysitting, proofreading and tutoring. There have even been cases of students earning considerable sums from playing online poker. Others create their own products and services, often based around their interests and hobbies. Arts and crafts comprise about a quarter of these.

Success stories include Andrew Jervis, who co-founded PieBoy Clothing while studying at the University of Manchester, selling more than 5,000 beanie hats alone in six months. He now runs ClickMechanic, an innovative car repair company with a multimillion-pound turnover. Meanwhile, Jacqui Wan started Manchester’s bubble tea craze with her BoBo Tea MCR firm, established in 2011 while she was a law student. International students can often capitalise on ideas that have already been successful in their home countries.

A 2020 report from Santander Bank indicated that 9 per cent of students were running businesses, with many more interested in doing so. The companies’ average turnover was £5,000 a year. While you have to take out costs before you can calculate the profit, the income derived is likely to compare favourably with the £144 a month ( £1,728 a year) that the average student earns from part-time work during term time, according to the Natwest Student Living Index.

But student businesses would be even more successful with greater support from universities – particularly for students who are not enrolled in business schools. Help is already on offer for opportunity-spotting, intellectual property and business planning, among other topics. But there is generally less for the nuts-and-bolts of being self-employed. Students tell me they want relatively simple things, such as guidance on tax, law, budgeting, accountancy and company registration. Experts from local business organisations are normally happy to provide sessions for students – if universities ask.

Further, basic advice could be offered on e-commerce, understanding profit margins and contracts. This could prevent students making expensive mistakes or being ripped off by tempting “get-rich-quick” activities with scope for problems. Alongside this, we could offer more dedicated spaces, on an ad-hoc or drop-in basis, where students could base their businesses. This can allow networking with like-minded people and access to shared facilities, as well as accommodating meetings with clients.

Opportunities to get students in front of customers are key. We could offer more chances for pop-up stalls around campus and we could try to use student businesses more often where practicable, such as to provide food for small events.

With so many student businesses in the arts and crafts, markets are a good way of giving students the opportunity to test their products and make money. There are many physical seasonal markets where universities offer students free stalls, but it would be better to have regular student markets, which allow a more consistent income and help to cultivate loyal customers. The charity Future Foundry’s Student Makers Markets are a good example: the Hackney market, launched in 2016 by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, takes place monthly, for instance. Students in Wales who are set up for e-commerce can be listed on the virtual Wales Student Market, run by a group of universities and colleges, giving student businesses a more permanent presence.

Anecdotally, I’ve not seen any evidence that these activities are damaging students’ grades by taking up too much time. In fact, these independent and creative students tend to get high marks. Moreover, by supporting their efforts to fund themselves through self-employment, we can help raise the next generation of entrepreneurs and highly employable entrepreneurial graduates – with the bonus of boosting attendance at lectures.

Robert Phillips is senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.