As thousands of students close their laptops and head home this week, many may learn more during the long summer break than they did in any lecture.

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Not because their lecturers were below par, but because the skills and experience they gain from their summer job could help their future careers more than any book they read, or essay they wrote, during term time.

Those graduating in the next few years will face a tough job market. Graduate vacancies have fallen by a third over the past year, and employers can take their pick of able candidates. Inevitably, they tend to favour grads who have both the ‘right’ degree and plenty of work experience.

And yet the proportion of students combining full-time education with a part-time job has halved since........

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