Conference Program

Universities are facing a period of significant change that is affecting various social groups, including students, who have to decide on the strategies to adopt in order to enter a flexible and competitive world. The stages of life that involve the transition from study to work take complex and irregular trajectories, characterized by a high degree of reversibility and instability. Within this context, students are frequently called upon to decide how to conduct their lives and what adaptation strategies to consider to reconcile different worlds of life, including university and work. Despite having been little studied, the figure of the working student is becoming increasingly present within universities. In this regard, in 2025, an explanatory empirical study was conducted on the working conditions of students in the Department of Education Sciences at Roma Tre University. Using a mixed methodology, the study aimed to understand the multiple implications associated with the phenomenon and give a voice to student population. Among the various dimensions explored during the research, I will focus on the evaluation of the relationship between the academic world and the working world of these working students, seeking to highlight the possible motivations behind their choices and the adaptation strategies to deal with this complexity.

The analysis of the interviews highlights some important considerations.

The academic and professional worlds do not always communicate with each other, which is why individual adaptation strategies are fundamental. Many working students choose flexible jobs, often without contracts, which allow them to pick the best strategy to conciliate the two world of lifes, and only a few choose jobs consistent with their studies. The working world and the academic world do not seem to play a major role in this adaptation; they provide support, but everything seems to be left up to the individual. Working students must use their inner skills and discipline to build their own path, piece by piece, communicating now with one world, now with the other, as if they were two isolated spaces with no continuity between them.