ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the subjective dimensions of how temporal structures in higher education contribute to student inequality and lead to continuous battles against time. It analyses how temporal demands seem to be paramount in students’ negotiations of legitimacy and belonging in higher education and society, which applies particularly to students with psychosocial problems. The chapter draws on empirical work with three female students, Jannie, Esther and Nanna, for whom fighting against time is highly important in their battles for recognition and belonging in higher education, namely to be capable of managing the time structure of everyday life, the consequences of falling behind and the embarrassment of taking too long over education. The analysis shows how European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) time and the highlighting of tempo are experienced by students, how it is to be an asynchronous student, how time functions as social differentiation and how time has become an important signifier of belonging in higher education. The chapter concludes that it is the sorting dynamics linked to time and asynchrony, probably as much as students’ specific psychosocial problems, that make it harder to for them to feel belonging and identity as part of a larger student community.
