University Students’ Approaches to Making the Most of Their Study Time

Abstract

This article explores university students’ approaches to and positions with regard to making the most of their study time. The article discusses how various normative societal expectations around students’ use and management of time feature in their talk about how they organise their everyday lives. The research is based on thematic interviews (n = 28) that focused in detail on students’ day-to-day activities that were generated with students from two sets of generalist study fields in three regional Finnish universities. The results of a discursive analysis of students’ positionings reveal three discursive positions that represent of a variety in students’ approaches to make sense of the temporal organisation of their everyday lives as students. The identified discursive positions draw on broader societal discourses and ideals about fast completion of studies, significance of academic immersion in becoming an expert, and optimising one’s time use to enhance employability.