ON CAMPUS
campusreview.com.au
Tertiary education has always had an
ingrained international dimension. As
mentioned earlier, since the Middle Ages,
scholars have travelled across borders
in search of the best education. Today’s
squeezed public funding, though, has
dramatically vaulted the importance
of international students to the global
university sector. The higher fees they pay
render them a sought-after market group,
especially where domestic pools have
reached their peak.
The US and UK have for decades been
the dominant destinations for foreign
students, currently housing approximately
19 and 10 per cent respectively of all
globally mobile students, but their
traditional market share is in decline.
Alongside a growth in intraregional
mobility, increasing numbers are opting
instead for Canada and Australia. The
latter’s total of international students
rose by 32 per cent in the decade from
2003 to 2013.
The competition for international
students is mounting, and with this is
growing investment in physical facilities
specifically designed to attract them. The
single most prevalent trend is through the
provision of purpose-built accommodation.
As a whole, today’s students are becoming
increasingly selective about where and how
they live. Anecdotal evidence suggests,
though, that the provision and standard
of housing is particularly important in the
recruitment of international scholars.
The recognition that the availability of
good-quality accommodation can provide
the competitive edge in recruitment
within this in-demand student market
is stoking a capital investment trend.
In Stockholm, for example, a city wit h
an acute housing problem, the Royal
Institute of Technology and Stockholm
University are jointly developing Campus
Albano, a 6.6-hectare university district of
which a key component is 1000 student
accommodation units. The new residential
provision is perceived as a means of
addressing the check that Stockholm’s
housing shortage has on the institutions’
international appeal.
In the face of this competition, US and
UK providers are being compelled to
increase and improve their offering. As
part of an active strategy to strengthen its
overseas populations, in 2016 the University
of Edinburgh completed the Holyrood
North Residence, a 29,000m 2 residential
‘village’ in the city centre. Encompassing
some 1200 beds in eight buildings, the
complex belongs to a strategic target
of the university to expand its access to
residential accommodation for international
postgraduates.
On a smaller scale, in 2011 Oregon State
University (OSU) opened its International
Living-Learning Center, a mixed-used
facility containing approximately 350 beds,
plus academic, dining and office space.
Upon opening, it was by far the university’s
most expensive residential hall, thanks to its
greater privacy and higher-quality finishes
designed to meet the expectations of the
international market. Nonetheless, the leap
in overseas enrolment numbers from 1548
in 2010 to 2362 in 2012 suggests that it
assisted OSU in meeting its targets to grow
its international contingent.
The centre was delivered in conjunction
with INTO University Partnerships, a
commercial provider that specialises in
joint ventures with tertiary education
institutions to operate international study
centres and residential accommodation
in the UK and US. Private-sector housing
operators have found themselves with a
commercial advantage in this sub-sector.
In Australia, international students make
up approximately 55 per cent of the
residents of privately managed student
residences. One explanation is that, often
unable to view property in person, they
pick accommodation online based on
the brand of well-known providers and
the facilities they offer. Accordingly, many
commercial providers actively attune their
offer to appeal to international students.
With such private, typically high-end halls,
however, comes a danger of segregation:
expensive accommodation risks out-
pricing domestic students and ghettoising
international students.
POSTGRADUATE ONLY
As Edinburgh’s Holyrood North Residence
indicates, it’s not only international recruits
that institutions are seeking to attract
through new accommodation, they’re also
looking to distinguish themselves within the
postgraduate market.
The National University of Singapore
(NUS) opened a 1700-bed postgraduate-
only complex, UTown Residence, in
2011. While dedicated student residences
have not historically been part of the
culture of Singaporean universities, NUS’s
aspiration to position itself as a world-
leading education destination led to
the opening of a dedicated residential
complex, University Town, adjacent to
its main campus. UTown Residence
provides housing for single and married
postgraduates in either four-bedroom
suites or apartments respectively.
For the University of Cambridge,
plans for 2000 postgraduate units on
its new North West Cambridge site – a
$1.8 billion, 150-hectare expansion on
greenfield land northwest of the city
centre – reflect an institutional gambit to
expand postgraduate student numbers to
alleviate its financial outlook in the wake of
uncertainty surrounding tertiary education
policy and Brexit. North West Cambridge’s
first quota of postgraduate housing,
Swirles Court, opened in 2017, with 325
ensuite bedrooms arranged around three
open-sided courts.
New postgraduate offerings are not
restricted to housing alone. There is a
nascent but significant trend to invest
in standalone social learning facilities
catering solely to the postgraduate body.
In 2015, Queen’s University Belfast unveiled
the Lynn Building, a neo-Gothic former
library built in 1868 transformed into a
postgraduate school. The project belongs
to the university’s goal to increase its
postgraduate student population from
23 to 30 per cent between 2016 and 2021.
The restored building houses silent study
areas, group rooms, classrooms and a
large breakout space beneath a dramatic
vaulted ceiling.
In 2017, Queen Mary University in London
followed suit with the opening of its own
Graduate Centre, comprising teaching,
study and social areas tailored expressly to
the working patterns of its postgraduate
population. The university has in recent
years expanded its postgraduate body, and
the new building is anticipated to facilitate
the continuation of this growth.
The realm of higher education is seeing
transformative changes and challenges
across the spectrum, but by responding to
the social, learning and working aspirations
of multiple student groups, universities are
striving to maintain their relevance within a
changing world. ■
Paul Roberts is co-author of University
Trends: Contemporary Campus Design,
2ed (Routledge, 2018) and director of
Turnberry Consulting.
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