Paid work during your degree
Discuss new work or changes to working circumstances with your supervisors in advance. Research must remain a central focus and satisfactory progress must continue.
University work
The framework’s University-work caps are:
| Mode | Normal cap |
|---|---|
| Full-time | No more than 6 hours a week |
| Part-time | Normally no more than 10 hours a week |
These include preparation, not just classroom/contact hours. They apply beyond your standard end date too. They are not a general statement that all outside employment is capped at six hours.
You need DoS agreement. Work must be paid appropriately; a stipend is not payment for labour and creates no obligation to work. Use Teaching and the Student Experience Contract. Discuss impact in your RD6 report/review; hours may need reducing if progress suffers.
Only the SRDL can raise the part-time cap once fair opportunities have been offered to other suitable students, including other Schools. Between submission and examination, an increase requires a written case to the Doctoral College Convenor after opportunities have been opened to the wider student community. An increase is not automatic.
Other employment, funding and visas
- Check external-funder conditions before accepting work.
- A full-time University-stipend recipient entering full-time employment must notify the DoS; payments stop and overpayments may be reclaimed.
- Do not treat the framework’s illustrative 10/20-hour visa examples as your personal permission. Check your actual visa conditions and obtain advice through Visa-related absence and changes. Unpaid activity can also be relevant.
- Where financial necessity makes work incompatible with progress, discuss Taking a study break and financial support.
Graduate Training Assistants have a specific contractual workload and annual cap.
Sources: Framework §§3.5, 3.13, pp. 27–28, 34–36. Read the source.