Time management: what do University students think about it?

Abstract

Time management practices allow users to meet their needs and pursue their goals within set deadlines. At university, time management is an important factor in promoting academic adaptation and good mental health. This article is based on a time management workshop for higher education students conducted over two years. A total of 17 students from public (n = 14) and private (n = 3) universities participated in the workshop, with a mean age of 28.4 years (SD = 15.3), of whom 14 were women. A Descending Hierarchical Classification (CHD) was employed using the software Iramuteq to analyze the participants’ conceptions about different time management strategies (both previously adopted and newly acquired), the difficulties involved in using them, and the lack of opportunities to implement them. The results revealed difficulties in relation to meeting deadlines for academic tasks, avoiding distractions, procrastination and maintaining study-life balance. The findings highlight the importance of providing students with spaces to accommodate their time management needs during their time at university.