What do international students look for when choosing accommodation while studying in the UK? It’s no surprise to hear that ‘price’ and ‘location’ came out top in a 2016 survey, which also places Wifi as a definite must-have on a student’s list.
A good host provider of international student accommodation will always try to allow for the specific requests of individual students on their initial application and resolve any unexpected issues during their stay. Nevertheless, a survey of more than 1,000 students highlights other factors, which also play their part in why students may choose one type of accommodation over another, such as ‘good storage space’.
British Council guidelines
According to The British Council guidelines, a room provided as homestay accommodation, should meet their approved level of standard accommodation, as follows:
- A proper state of cleanliness and repair.
- Adequate heating and lighting.
- A sufficiently spacious bedroom with natural light, equipped with an adequately sized bed and adequate hanging and drawer space for clothes.
- A table for private study (where appropriate).
- Sufficient washing facilities and access to a bathroom, with baths or showers available daily.
- A change of towels and bed linen each week and an adequate supply of duvets or blankets.
- A laundry service (especially in the case of under-16s) or clearly explained laundry arrangements.
At the same time, the British Council sets out a Code of Practice for host providers, which focuses on the ‘quality of experience’ in the home environment, including:
- Making the student feel at home and treating him/her as a member of the family rather than a paying guest.
- Encouraging the student to speak English as much as possible when at home.
- Respecting the student’s different cultural background and to be sensitive to their needs.
But what do the students themselves say in the survey – Accommodation for Students 2016 – about their priorities when searching for somewhere to stay while studying in the UK?
Availability of room space
The biggest concern was how near they would be living to their college – ranked by 90 per cent of students as “very important” – then closeness to city centre (70 per cent) and transport links (60 per cent). Contrary to what you, or new host providers might imagine, less of a priority was to be in an area with a high concentration of other students and easy access to bars and clubs.
A similar practical approach was also revealed in the various factors and features, which students say they look for when searching for accommodation. Around 8 in 10 students admit that price and location are the key concerns followed by 6 in 10 students pointing to standard of decoration and furnishings, available space and quality of facilities. However, when compared to previous surveys, it was found that the importance of price and standard of furnishing had actually dropped by around 10 per cent. On the other hand, the availability of room space had increased in importance from below 30 per to above 40 per cent.
Size does matter! The increasing shortage of appropriate accommodation for students is most felt by those from overseas who are also struggling with new visa and financial restrictions. Rooms at university halls of residence tend to be instantly snapped up the moment they become available, and as a result, around three quarters of students say they simply look for accommodation in the private sector.
However, the survey does appear to flag up on-going problems with student accommodation offered by private landlords or letting agents.
Negative experience
Just over 1 in 5 said they had a negative experience with issues, such as communication, lack of response to queries over maintenance and poor upkeep of a property. More than a third of students were “less sure” that their accommodation represented value.
Yet amazingly, the problem of how much room space you get for your money pales into insignificance when compared to the number one requirement – fast Internet connection (80 per cent), followed by ‘bills inclusive’ (63 per cent) and good storage space (61 per cent). Apparently, the least important feature is a large TV (58 per cent).
For any international visitor, let alone a young student in the UK for the first time, the problems of tiny rooms, high rents, difficult locations and private landlords or their agents are not what they need to be dealing with when they start their studies. Especially, if they are still learning to speak English.
It seems increasingly clear that the accommodation that students are searching for can be clearly fulfilled by a hosted homestay solution. Not only does homestay accommodation tick all the practical boxes, the hosting scheme answers many, if not all, the key concerns raised in the survey by providing a living space dedicated to an individual student’s needs.