Accommodation

Accommodation as Residence

Accommodation as residence has two distinctive dimensions—living in student accommodation, usually adjacent to campus, or remaining at home and commuting into campus. These modes of living are spatialized with dedicated student accommodation often a UK, North American, or Chinese phenomenon and living at home being the preferred option for students in much of Europe and Asia, as well as South America and Australia. Nevertheless, student accommodation is becoming increasingly popular amongst international students through the proliferation of purpose-built student halls of residence.

Student accommodation consists of two main property types—university managed halls and privately rented houses in multiple occupation (HMO). In some UK, North American, and Chinese higher education institutions, halls are populated primarily by first-year undergraduate students, international students, and postgraduate students. Notwithstanding this, some institutions encourage campus-based lodging for the duration of the degree, through systems such as the Oxford and Cambridge University residential colleges in the UK or fraternity and sorority houses in North America.

Alongside traditional halls and dormitories, increasingly globalised higher education markets have introduced privately managed purpose-built student accommodation that offers different ways of living (e.g., high specification services, entertainment facilities, cutting-edge technologies) to students in countries that may not necessarily have traditions of leaving home for university. Providers include: Studentenwerk (Germany), International Campus (Netherlands), Nexity Studéa (France), UniLodge (Australia), GSA Coral (Japan), and ENBD Reit (UAE). Purpose-built student accommodation differs from traditional halls as they are managed not by universities, but by private companies, meaning a single accommodation block may contain students from multiple institutions across an urban area.

The second type of student accommodation is privately rented student HMO. This is characteristically a UK phenomenon, although there is growing evidence of student HMO in North America, mainland Europe, and China. Typically, HMO accommodates students beyond their first year and involves collective student groups seeking a shared property and entering into private contracts with landlords and/or letting agencies. Student HMO has been responsible for studentification, a process whereby residential neighbourhoods become dominated by student housing.

Whilst HMO is popular in UK and North American contexts, there exists varying appetite for leaving home for university in other countries. The third dimension of residential accommodation concerns students remaining at home, colloquially referred to as commuter or living at home students. This might involve younger students living with parents and/or other family members, or mature students living in their own homes with partners, spouses, and/or dependents. Living at home students are often characterised as local or immobile despite the often long commuting distances they may experience daily to and from university.

Accommodation as Equitable Access

Another dimension of accommodation involves widening participation in higher education by encouraging the enrollment of students from under-represented backgrounds. In terms of access, students are divided into two streams—(1) traditional and (2) non-traditional.

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