Exploring Occupational Stress in Higher Education: The Student Perspective

Students enrolled in higher education study programs face various and vast challenges. These academic demands can generate occupational stress if proper support methods are not put in place. The scientific literature has investigated mainly perceived occupational stress by students in singular universities, especially in the medical field and differences in stress experience due to demographic variables. This exploratory study investigated occupational stressors among students at the Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Bucharest University of Economic Studies. Data was collected from a representative sample of 347 undergraduate and master’s students. An online survey was distributed using Google Forms. Statistical analyses were performed using the JASP software program. The main research question was: „to what extent are academic demands and assessment methods associated with occupational stressors among faculty students, and how do these stressors correlate with the preference for specific mitigation strategies?” Perceived occupational stress was correlated with the students’ preference for organizational interventions, specifically the reduction of administrative burden and increase of curricular flexibility. The implications for the field include the mapping and listing of specific occupational stressors and the existing relationship between these factors, coping strategies and the existing assessment methods at the faculty level. The contribution brought by this paper to the field study consists in the empirical support provided for faculty management to replace or at least complement final exams with continuous assessment methods. The results also emphasize the need for better coordination of academic disciplines by professors to mitigate students’ occupational stress.