About 60% of on-campus jobs at UK and Australian universities fill through word of mouth or internal referrals before they're ever posted publicly. If you're waiting to see a job board listing, you've already lost the best positions. Getting part-time work as an international student requires a different approach than the one most students try.
The strategy that works: go to campus employment services in person before the semester starts. The students who do this in week one get the jobs; the ones who wait until week four compete for what's left.
Which sectors pay the most — and fit study schedules
| Sector | Pay (UK) | Study-friendly? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private tutoring | £20–£50/hr | Yes — you set your own hours | STEM students, language teachers, all levels |
| Campus employment (library, admin, IT support) | £11.50–£14/hr | Yes — employer knows academic commitments | Any student — flexible contracts, exam-period understanding |
| Research assistant / lab | £12–£16/hr | Yes — fits around academic year | Postgraduate and final-year students |
| Hospitality (restaurants, cafés, hotels) | £11.44–£13/hr + tips | Moderate — evening and weekend shifts | Students with reliable evening availability |
| Retail (supermarkets, campus shops) | £11.44–£12/hr | Moderate — rota flexibility varies | Students who can commit to set shift patterns |
| Delivery / gig economy | Variable (avg ~£10–£12/hr) | Yes — fully flexible | Students who need complete hour flexibility (caution: some gig work has legal status issues for visa purposes) |
How Do You Get On-Campus Jobs Before They're Posted?
University campuses are large employers. Jobs include: library assistants, student union staff, IT help desk, sports centre staff, open day ambassadors, accommodation wardens, laboratory demonstrators, and research assistants. These roles have one significant advantage over off-campus work: your employer already knows you're a student, understands exam periods, and often builds schedule flexibility into contracts.
Visit your university's student employment or careers service in person during freshers' week. Many departments also post jobs on internal noticeboards and department email lists before they go to central job boards. If you're interested in lab work or research assistance, email the relevant department administrator directly — "I'm a first-year [subject] student looking for research assistant opportunities this term" is the right approach.
Tutoring: the highest-paying option from day one
If you're studying a STEM subject, a professional degree (law, medicine, business), or you're a native speaker of a language in demand, private tutoring is the best-paying part-time option available to international students from the first week of term — no experience needed, no employment history required.
Rates in the UK: GCSE and A-Level maths/science tutoring £20–£35/hour. University-level tutoring £30–£50/hour. English as a second language (ESL) £18–£30/hour. Most students find their first clients through Superprof, Tutorful, or Facebook groups for parents of secondary school students near the university.
The practical advantage of tutoring for international students: you invoice rather than receive a payslip, which is administratively simple. You need to declare earnings for tax purposes (in the UK, you get a personal allowance of £12,570 before you pay any tax — most part-time tutors don't exceed this).
Know your rights as a worker
As a legal worker in the UK, you're entitled to the National Minimum Wage (£11.44/hour for age 21+ in 2024), a payslip for every payment, and protection against discrimination. If you're employed, you also accrue holiday pay from day one.
Some employers try to hire international students as "self-employed" for simple employment-type roles to avoid paying employer National Insurance. This doesn't affect your work hours limit, but it shifts tax responsibility to you. Get advice from your university's student union if you're unsure about your employment status.
Where to start this week
In the first week of term: visit your student employment or careers service in person. Search your university's internal job board (not LinkedIn or Indeed — the internal board gets posted first). Walk into three businesses within 15 minutes of campus and ask to speak to a manager about part-time vacancies. If tutoring is viable for your subject, create a profile on Superprof and Tutorful before the end of week one.
Also check the work hour limits for your visa in our international student work hours guide before you start — and see how part-time income fits your overall budget in our first-year budget guide.