Join Sarah and Deenie from The Property Marketing Strategists as they launch their latest piece of research looking at the global perspectives of student accommodation.
It was a really valuable discussion where we spoke about the following points in relation to international students:
👉 Profit and segmentation
👉 Evolving student needs
👉 Changing the PBSA model
👉 Getting students to collaborate with the sector
👉 Communication with international students
👉 The role of universities
👉 Importance of data
Thanks once again to all of our panellists: Saurabh Arora, CEO, University Living- our data partner, Joe Persechino, Chief Operating Officer, Yugo- our strategic partner and Martijn van de Veen, Chief Business Development Officer, ICEF, Simeon Anyalemechi, President and Chair of the Board of Trustees, University of Salford Student Union and Robin Walsh, Head of Residential Services Bournemouth University
Get the full report on The Global Perspective of Student Accommodation here: https://i.mtr.cool/sgromkvxei
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to this very exciting launch of our new research the  Global perspective of student accommodation a big special thanks to our partners University  Living who have supported us in the data and Yugo for being our main partner who without Â
Which we wouldn’t be here today so a really big thank you to you guys for supporting us we did a  big piece of research in 2022 which which many of you um might have been involved in and read Â
And it was about what gen Z want from their student accommodation um but the majority of  the responses came from a domestic audience so we were asked from quite a lot of people if we could  provide Insight from International students and when we were looking for partners to support us Â
With this Yugo were the obvious choice with their variety of student accommodation across the globe  we knew we could rely on them to provide their unique experience and knowledge with buildings in  multiple Continence we were able to tap into their database to bring the international perspective to Â
The results um and with University Living we’d been looking for project to collaborate on for a  for a while and when this idea came about and the opportunity came along they were just a perfect  fit for for working with us on this data set um so together with both ugo’s database and University Â
Living’s database we’ve been able to um survey 2,000 uh Global students um full 60% of that  coming from the University living database and 40% coming from Yugo um just so you’re aware for the  purpose of this report and this webinar when we talk about an international student we’re talking Â
About a student who is living away from home um from their home country and a domestic student is  those studying in the country that they were born and grew up in um so along with representatives  from our partners um Joe from Yugo and Saurabh from University Living we also welcome Martin Â
From ICEF Robin Walsh from Bournemouth University and Simeon representing the student voice as the  president and chair of Trustees from Salford students union sadly Rebecca roare was unable  to join us today as she’s got called away to important Student Business at leads so big thank Â
You to Robin for stepping in last minute to ensure we had the university perspective in this session  um please can we ask our panel to introduce themselves and also to share with us um what  it was about the international student landscape that attracted you to be part of this report and Â
Webinar um let’s start with you Joe thanks Sarah and good afternoon everyone pleasure to be here  today uh I’m Joe I’m the CEO of Yugo it’s pretty much the class leading Global student operator  and brand um for globally for students and we are operational in around nine countries and over 110 Â
Properties and this this the opportunity to be able to talk on this webinar and to be part of  the report is absolutely fascinating for us uh as data is king and the more we can learn from Â
Our students about what they want and what they need that will certainly help us in terms of a the  types of properties that are built in the future but also how how that can dictate the service that Â
We provide to those students so really excited to be here today and uh looking forward to the  conversation thank you Joe um SRA would you like to introduce yourself sure thanks thanks everyone  and uh look forward for our insightful learning session you know with with with all the great uh Â
Stars of this industry you know uh I guess I’m the most rookie in the in the ecosystem so it’s been  12 years been doing this uh love this to the core you know for my international student to someone  who is trying to help International students with their accommodation uh been breathing eating and Â
Literally sleeping student accommodation all across the globe so can’t be more happy to be  part of this uh this panel and we know this for last 12 years we realized that everyone is talking Â
You know we can do this we should do this but most of us need to take decisions and that’s where the  data and and these reports and these sessions are important you know so thank you to Sarah and and Â
All the awesome work you’ve been doing of going out of the way literally walking the talk going to  each cities meeting property managers uh speaking with platform speaking with students and putting  across students um insights as well as what exactly is needed do we need those fancy cinema Â
Halls or do we need extra one square meter in the room you know and and both are important you know  but uh if we have data points which can help take decisions you know I believe yeah so that’s what Â
Make me excited to part of this event and being data partner for for for SAR and Denny um I can’t  I can’t forget s you know when we started early on Sarah was one of the very early supporter of Â
Unity living you know and it’s been you know a top SEC Journey for Marketplace wherein you know from  a from a one country destination to probably 12 countries all across the globe you know  from providing pbsa to home stays from providing shortterm to long term I I mean love the journey Â
And thank you for being part of the journey s and Denny over to you guys thank you sir that’s very  kind of you um Simeon would you like to introduce yourself hello everyone lovely toet you all my  name is Simeon I’m an international student myself originally from Nigeria a returning sabatical Â
Officer that was business and law officer last year but returned this year as president of the  so students union have been a huge advocate for international students especially uh towards  inclusion of international students and yeah what’s attracted me to this important project Â
Is we all know that universities are really ambitious towards recruitment of international  students giving the contribution to University finances however not much thoughts has been put  into planning for them especially given their unique circumstances and uh giv that they’ve Â
Traveled far to come study here in the UK the Baseline for their experience normally um uh for  it’s normally the planning done for home students but in reality that’s not sufficient and does not  meet their expectations this is why I’m really impressed with this research I wanted to get Â
Involved share my views on the findings based on my personal experience my experience as president  of the S students union thank you and lovely to meet you all once more thank you in um let’s go Â
To Martin now would you like to introduce yourself yes thank you very much Sarah and DEA lovely to be  here and be surrounded by such uh Professionals in accommodation and International Education I  think that you know ISF is one of the leaders in international student recruitment so we provide Â
Publications on what’s happening in the market but we’re also very well known for our B2B networking  events where we bring together the education providers who recruit International students  and connect them with any organization that can help them do that and with anything around that Â
Which of course includes uh accommodation we have an event on that topic coming up in in London uh  where you’ll be there as well Sarah and Dei but um you know technically anything that involves  International students and accommodation has my interest and what I really liked about your Â
Report and your approach is that you are looking at students as individuals rather than a bunch  of numbers and statistics um because in our sector the student recruitment industry the  focus is always on the students individual needs and interest in terms of their study and their Â
Career opportunities and their Ambitions and I believe that we should also be more aware of  the students individual needs and desires of in terms of student accommodation their their home  away from home and I feel that your report is an important ingredient to help us be more aware of Â
Those individual needs so thanks also for putting that report together and for putting this webinar  together on such an important topic I look forward to the conversation thank you thank you for  joining us and last but not least least definitely not least Robin thank you um yeah as say stepping Â
In here um kind of at the last minute for Rebecca but um hopefully I’ll I’ll be able to to fill her  large boots um I was coming along anyway so really interested in in this uh this topic so Â
I was going to be in the audience listening to the conversation so I’m really pleased to  be able to sort of be be on the panel and be a part of the conversation um I’ve worked in the Â
Sector for over 20 years now for universities and for um private pbsa organizations um currently at  Bournemouth University but I also sit on the the Cubo um executive board um they’re their lead  for housing codes and standards so for people that don’t know Cubo they are a membership Organization Â
For um for the sort of uh University Services the sort of Commercial Services income generating  that are non-academic so things like um retail catering conferencing Sport and then accommodation  accommodation obviously is a really important um part of of of of what we do to support our members Â
Got 118 members 118 um institutions as members of Cubo um so yeah so you know I think let’s get into  the conversation and uh see where we go great and thank you everyone and I’m sure the audience will Â
Agree that is we’ve got an amazing panel a lot of expertise and um we really appreciate you being  with us today um and joining us um before we the discussion um we did just want to share some stats Â
Around those who responded to the survey um as just by signing up to this webinar you will all  receive um an email into your box into your inbox shortly after this with the actual report um but Â
Just so you’ve got a bit of a a headline kind of findings about who has responded um we had of 2000  of the 2,000 respondents 40% of them were male 57% female 1% non-binary and 2% preferred not to SA um Â
55% of those that responded were studying um away from their home nation and 45% studying in their  own country 25% of all the respondents were Indian um with 49% studying in the UK and they’re all  currently living in different settings uh with 47% in a room with shared facilities 18% in a private Â
Apartment with no shared facilities 4% share of a room 24% in a shared house or apartment and 5% of  living in a house they own or with their family um as de said at the valued audience you’ll all Â
Receive the report after the webinar um we are Keen to get the data in front of as many people  as possible so please share it far and wide um however it’s a rather big document so we’d Â
Prefer it if you didn’t print it um so without further Ado we will begin our discussion on the  global perspective of student accommodation um for international students if you’ve got any  questions please use the Q&A facility um on your screen as we will keep an eye on on this and we Â
Won’t be keeping an eye on comments Until the End um so let’s start the discussion um so do  you think the accommodation sector thus far has considered the needs of individual cohorts and  their specific Lifestyles demands and budgets um this is about the segmentations of students Â
Rather than looking them as as one body who would like to start I can start um yeah you  know to be honest I actually do believe that the accommodation sector itself does provide  a wide range of of different housing formats and solutions but we have to ask ourselves to what Â
Level the accommodation sector can and should be uh considering each students specific lifestyle  and demand I would argue that this is more of a joint responsibility not just of the accommodation  providers but also and especially of the education providers the study abroad agencies and of course Â
Of the students themselves who find that that destination that school program and of course  of accommodation that together as a mix provide access to to their different individual needs I  I just think of amenities like a a gym washing facilities quiet study spaces a lot of these Â
Things that came in that I saw in your report uh areas for social interaction entertainment prayer  facilities a lot of these are provided also by the institution the school the municipality the  local library perhaps and they can be found in the the city center so you know to answer that Â
Question I I do feel that the accommodation sector in many cases does have an answer to the needs of  individual students but it all comes down to it all comes down to price and many of those can be Â
Satisfied outside of the accommodation uh that is available yeah can I go yes sir so first of  all thank you I mean again I feel so blessed and and fortunate to have a model which is by Design Â
And by choice you know have the opportunity to you know provide what students wants you know we  are no one to tell that okay this is what you want to book we Are we always say that okay these are Â
The options take informed decisions you know by virtue of that you know at least you know we are  fortunate even if we have Studios so we can give a student Studios a private room or home stay depend Â
Upon their location price point whatever they look for right so segmentation is very important and in  fact one of the reason the sector has been doing well in spite and despite of Co inflations and  depressions in last 15 20 years because we’ve been as a ecosystem been listening to students and and Â
And universities right so segmentation important and we’ve been doing it as a ecosystem and  webinars and reports uh surveys like this ensure that we’ve been listening to the core you know we  are not listening only one side of the ecosystem you know if you look for if we listen for Â
Investors of course we all need to have Studios because that give the best Roi if you look for  University Partners they need most of the private rooms you know as as price point or budget that  can be and still walking distant to universities not possible in this in this era and ecosystem so Â
With these segmentation surveys we all can listen to everyone and eventually we always say that we  are happy only and only if students are happy you know as I as I mentioned that it’s not the Â
Market which is what a available but it’s always been run by a market what is needed so sooner or  later in this market if if some investors are pushing Studios but if it’s not budgeted in the Â
Right location it will not be filled so they are forced to you know look out for option which is  used by the students and universities you know so so yeah I mean this this is a market which is run Â
By demand then by the supply I’m roing I guess from your point of view um back to martine’s  point I think what martine’s saying is that it’s not just about accommodation you have to look at  the whole ecosystem and I guess probably that’s quite true in Bournemouth because you rely on Â
External providers your accommodation um and also it’s quite spread out amongst the city so I guess  how how how much should the students needs be met through just accommodation I think from a  from an accommodation point of view it’s um yeah it depends on it really depends on the picking up Â
On stup’s point of R about demand and you know I don’t my my view is I don’t think it’s by design  that we are offering any kind of any sort of uh consideration for the individ you’re going actual  question about the individual sort of needs and cohorts of these these particular different types Â
Of students I don’t think I don’t think anybody’s actually doing that by Design I think that what  is driving this and what’s driving the bulk of of the accommodation offer is it is about return Â
On investment and it is about is it is a profit making or you know business and that that’s what  it is you put the cards on the table that’s what private pbsa is and universities rely on Â
That because without private p SAA they wouldn’t be able to have got to the stage where they are  now with regards to recruitment now I think that I think that maybe you know this is becoming more  of a topical issue right now because potentially you know people have talked about sort of price Â
Tipping points for many years and maybe we’re getting to that point now where actually for  for certain cohorts of students and we know that you know Simeon here from Nigeria I’m sure he  can he can talk from that point of view there are different cohorts of of students who come Â
From different parts of the world who have very different levels of sort of budgets which means  they have very different options and they’re going to be looking for different types of accommodation  if there was if there was if if there were the options out there we wouldn’t be having this com Â
We wouldn’t be having this conversation I don’t think because there wouldn’t be any issues that  we’re having this conversation shows that there’s a problem and I would Challenge and throw it out  there that the problem is price now how we how you deal with that is a real is you know that’s Â
The golden ticket isn’t it nobody knows right now everyone’s talking about you know there’s this I  I what I see now happening in the market is that since you know since covid you know everyone talks  about sort of pre and postco no one was doing anything postco because you know inflation’s Â
Running High um you know everyone’s sitting on their money everyone’s sitting on their hands  watching and seeing what’s going to happen to the market things are starting to ease up now that  inflation’s coming down and you are starting to see interest coming back into the market however Â
That interest that’s coming back into the market is still on a preo model of what sora’s talking  about you know it’s that classic mostly on suites with some studios and that still seems to be the  model and that’s probably because that’s the model that investors understand and that’s the Â
Easy one to sell to funds but but actually it’s not what students need it’s not what universities  need either and ultimately I don’t think in the long term it’s not what private companies need  because you obviously need to you know need to provide a product that that that students want Â
And I think this the demand that the the landscape of students has changed now and it’s changed maybe  you know again it’s a sort of it’s just a thought is that it’s changed and we’ve not realized it’s  changed and we don’t really understand the extent of how it’s changed so you know we’re Â
Here having this conversation now which is a good thing let’s bring Simeon in because I’m  sure based on that Robin what’s what’s your view from a a student per perspective you mentioned  in your introduction that you feel like sometimes International students are may be not considered Â
As any different to domestic home home students you know how far should accommodation go with  segmentation thanks Sarah and yes I completely agree with Robin that at the moment uh it’s about  it’s about return on investment um there’s a demand and Supply issue and that takes away Â
The core focus of the experience students are supposed to get out of um accommodation and for  me uh this is the first research I’ve come across that segments you know a minor a minority that’s  most often forgotten and that’s International students um accommodations are mainly designed Â
Um you know with accommodations are mainly designed you know with with the core focus  on profits is it is it making profits and all that so early this year I was on a trip uh to Europe on Â
A 1K trip we visited over 15 organizations across the baltics and Finland and I was quite impressed  with the research driven approach taken by one of the organization we visited called HOAs HOAs is a  housing accommodation originally founded by 16 students but currently what over um 429 million Â
Um sorry what over 587 million as its balance sheet and has a a turnover of over 82 million  so uh the the government is subsidizing this scheme but one thing that’s intriguing about  it is the inclusivity by Design like how they include students in the design how they consider Â
The diversity of their student population and how it’s done with and for the students so uh  maybe if we solve the demand and Supply issue uh then I I know I I’m confident that this important  piece of work would be would inform you know decisions of universities um universities Â
And housing providers thank you that’s really interesting we we’ll look those up that sounds  really interesting I guess Joe nothing really exemplifies segmentation of different National  than the Yugo product because you don’t have the same product all across the globe you know we I Â
I know that personally I used to to work with you at Yugo um there’s not one product that’s the same  in in you know in every country because you’ve been able to to kind of look at the individual Â
Needs in each country yeah that’s right Sarah and when we use the segmentation word I think we need  to be need to be careful that you know we’re here to to be inclusive for all students as as everyone Â
On this panel is we want to Ure that all students are served catered For and and have somewhere to  live that’s appropriate for them and for their needs and I think the the difficulty we have as Â
An industry is that when you start to segment you know it’s it’s not an easy thing to do um you know  you’ll know yourself s industry a long time that way back when the first sort of Internationals  that started to flourish and come through were traditionally regard as the Chinese they were Â
Wealthy so suddenly you were catering for that that high wealth Chinese cohort then we’ve seen  the rise of the middle classes um from Asia and then now we”re seeing the working classes rise  through so you look at the international students and the stats and where they’re coming from and Â
Those numbers are changing we’ve seen you know Sora will will attest to this that India is  growing exponentially versus China in terms of student numbers each year but now you’re seeing  Vietnamese Indonesian African students that are you know there’s more more coming through the Â
System and so to segment to a particular type of student is very difficult because you can’t just  say that all Indian students want cheap rooms non- on Suite bunk beds for example versus Chinese who Â
Only want Studios it’s not as simple as that so you throw that into the mix and it makes it very  very difficult to be able to build something and operate something for everybody because the needs Â
Are always changing and you know put on top of that layer on top of that you’ve got gen Zeds  will be moving into gen I gen AI in the next four years what are the what are their needs going to Â
Be and if you’re building today and then it won’t be open for another three or four years you know  potentially your your room mix is already out of date or your service offerings out of day so we’ve Â
Got to be really mindful about the key themes that you pull out from what students want to be able  to build something that is as close to what they want whilst obviously being profitable like like  Robin’s mentioned but enabling a you know a true offering for everyone I think it’s very difficult Â
And you know the biggest thing that certainly I’m I want to avoid is that you you create one type  of housing or student housing for a particular cohort and then suddenly you’ve almost you know I  don’t know if you’re attracting Indian students or Chinese students and suddenly your whole building Â
Becomes populated by those Asians or Indian students the whole point well I think that you  know big a large part of being an international student is that you want to immerse yourself in  in the culture and the community of a different country and I’m not sure that putting all Indian Â
Students into one building for example is really going to encourage that and you know certainly at  Yugo we want to so we we’ve been pushing through our through our pillars that we have to to ensure  that we get that connectivity between different cultures between students from different countries Â
To to ensure that that that mixing happens because that’s that’s part of the journey isn’t it of life  and being able to understand different cultures and and where people are from and and making new  friendsross borders so I think we need to be careful about segmentation and how we actually Â
Apply that in real life come in if that’s okay just some thoughts Ste I thought that um I think  you’re right Jo I mean I couldn’t agree more Joe about about sort of um you know social kind of Â
Engineering I can’t be more against that you know I think that um I think yeah students part as part  of their student experience it should be about about sort of you know additional to their kind  of academic it’s about broadening the experience and meeting people that you know that you’re never Â
Going to kind of probably meet that broader range of people anywhere else you know um even within  the workplace so so that’s a really important part and I agree with that part I think that um I think Â
The the key thing here is that this this is not a problem that it’s it’s not PBS’s um um problem to  solve you know PB private pbsa are limited to what they can do to increase the supply of of of of of Â
A broader range of accommodation you know the UK itself is struggling you know across all tenant  classes you know the students are just one and and actually and actually pbsa is you know you it  would be really interesting and we’ve talked about this many over many years be really interesting Â
For somebody to come up with a different type of model for pbsa that could you know could could  offer a a broader ladder of rents within within a property you know um so you could it could be more Â
Appealing to to students who are on a on a tighter budget who could have that pbsa experience and all  the great things that Joe has talked about that you get within pbsa because it’s it’s a fantastic Â
Product and and and a lot of students love it but because of the model the kind of commercial  model of PBS is not going to be for every type of student so rather than than thinking about having  the conversation around sort of different cohorts of students around the different nationalities Â
More this is about kind of budgets really when it comes down to the Brass tax of what students can  actually afford if they can afford to go to pbsa they can go and explore enjoy all these on-site  gyms and Cinema rooms and roof Terraces and 247 maintenance and you know residential life programs Â
And all that great stuff that you get within those you know but but the the the the hard fact of it  is a lot of these students can’t afford that so they need a different type of accommodation and Â
That’s not as say that’s not pbsa problem to solve that’s a broader issue around the lack  of um housing in this country and you know and and that and that goes back to central government  doesn’t It ultimately and local authorities you know universities I think have a have a Â
Much stronger position um you know they they they they they should be playing their hand much more  strongly in in for what they do you know talking to local authorities and there are some some good  examples out there of how you know um universities are now starting to take take those take those Â
Conversations to local authorities um but yeah but really you know Central government’s the  one that that needs to get a grasp with this and they are just not you know I mean they’re looking  to they’re looking to to bring in this renters perform act which is you know Cubo and many other Â
Sector organizations can’t tell them more directly what what the what the potential consequences are  bringing this renters Reform Bill is going to be on the HMO sector we’ve seen it in Scotland you  know the HMO sector has been has kind of massively reduced in after 2016 when the Scottish government Â
Brought in their new tendency they’re looking to do this very similar thing in England and you  know and that the HMO sector unfortunately that’s where you that’s where a lot of the the students  on these lower end budgets are they look to go in because they control their costs more you know and Â
They can you know two to a room and or three to a room I don’t you know they do they they they find  a way um they shouldn’t have to find a way but they do no and that’s probably a good point to Â
Bring signing because I think we can talk a lot about kind of what’s happening in the UK but I  know from kind of our recent travels this summer across Europe that it’s not just a UK problem Â
In terms of housing it’ be interesting to hear you your Viewpoint Martine from kind of the the  global persective of people struggling with this housing and and where good ideas might be working  yeah it’s it’s such an interesting point because you know the in student accommodation crisis is of Â
Course major Topic in all major study destinations and I hear a lot of these conversations and wears  where people are pointing fingers at um well the accommodation sector is not doing enough of ABC  or the government should be more flexible and their new law has has made things worse or the Â
Education providers and everyone’s pointing their fingers and what I like here in the Netherlands  where where I live is that the the government here who has also been criticized on many fronts  um and let’s not talk politics it’s go there but what they have done is they actually have set up Â
A steering committee with a um with one person’s called the uh beautiful Dutch word uh student and  house festing regur which is kind of the kind let’s say the director of this of this project  his responsibility is to actually bring together the stakeholders in um in international student Â
Commodation in student accommodation so you’ve got your your pbsa providers you’ve got your student  housing associations you’ve got representatives of public universities and Comm and um and private  institutions student unions uh government bodies local governments all coming together and uh so Â
Rather than having these separate conversations with groups of people from the accommodation  sector complaining about all the others or you know actually everyone was in the room and you  know some some interesting Solutions come out of that but my M main point here is that um it’s one Â
Thing to talk about oh we can’t do this or that is so bad I think as a sector and as as stakeholders  in the sector we need to look at ourselves and see what we can do to improve the situation so Â
Obviously we need to be aware of what we cannot do but it’s more interesting to see what can we  do and how can we help influence the other areas where we are not that what we can’t do how can we Â
Influence those areas so my recommendation is really that actually like you’ve done on this  webinar you bring together different stakeholders representing different perspectives in this very  important topic thank you and Simeon I don’t know if you’re able to talk a little bit about Â
What you’re involved in at University of sford as part of the wider kind of Manchester sort of  I guess housing task force so yeah um I I suppose you want me to talk about the work we’re doing at Â
The greater Manchester level on housing right yeah if you can okay great so uh well well as we all  know accommodation is a challenge in manchest not just in Manchester but across U major is um in the Â
UK and in my first term as officer uh we wanted we wanted a greater Manchester solution to this and  we visited Nottingham to learn from the experience of what a good example of proper planning and  coordination between the university and the local community uh looks like and how we can Â
Also design a similar strategy so uh We’ve also we’ve also drawn Insight from uh uh our visits  to the baltics as well specific reference to the Student Life strategy at temp um yeah I I would  double check that but mainly um what’s happening in Nottingham is a bit of information sharing that Â
Would help shape the plan the future of planning in terms of housing provision availability cost  safety other amenities and you know just basic issues like noise sustainability so we’ve come  back with good insights um students in Manchester have United and we formed what we call the greater Â
Manchester student partnership and we meet about five times a year with the mayor of Manchester  where the legitimate voice of the students here in Manchester but early days some of the outcomes of  this is that we’ve been able to feedback on the good landlord chatter consultation and the the Â
Mayor has made a commitment in his Manifesto to co-create a student living and staying strategy  with us uh we are working you know alongside the universities and uh the greater Manchester  combined authority to write a blueprint for the general public on what students need on housing uh Â
Safety and transport in Manchester um yeah I don’t know if that provides good Insight on what what  we’ve done at the greater Manchester level that’s really interesting yeah I think that’s really  positive you know it’s great to hear it’s great to hear those stories I you know I know I know the Â
Nottingham student living strategy quite well um you know we’ve um we’ve done a we’ we’ve done a um  accommodation strategy group presentation when we had we had the Unis and the local Authority come  along talking to the rest of the Cubo members about that Durham’s also another really good Â
Example of of of where they’ve worked very closely with their local Authority um and they’ve they  they’ve you know they they’ve managed to to to pull together a whole whole broad range of data  around the the student accommodation Supply to try and understand the um you know exactly how Â
Many beds they’ve got across all the different types of accommodation so not just pbsa but all  the hmos as well and they’ve been able to gather all of that and and use that to inform their their  student number strategy so there’s some there’s some really good stuff you know in in Bournemouth Â
We are you know we’ve you I’ve been reaching out our local our local council is currently doing it  it’s draft local plan um they have just employed for the first time a pbsa planning officer you Â
Know so I’ve met with them you know essentially kind of brought them up to speed on from the  point of view of the the three universities that are in Bournemouth three universities in Bourn  withth people don’t realize that so all three of the universities have been sort of involved Â
In conversations with that and and we’ve informed and influenced um the the policy there so there is  some good stuff here and you know this isn’t and and going back to kind of Martin’s Point  around sort of finger pointing I don’t believe I don’t think this is finger pointing I think this Â
Is what what you need to do is State the facts of where the problems lie because if you don’t then  then you know you’re kind of bang banging your head against a brick wall or you just you just Â
Blinkered and you’re just trying to you you know and I think and I think that that that really does  you know there’s there’s a fundamental problem with in the UK um around the around the housing  strategy the long-term housing strategy we’ve had somewhere in the region 15 or 16 housing ministers Â
Since 2010 how can you have a long-term strategy it’s great to hear in the Netherlands that you  guys can get together and you know you’ve got a much more collaborative um sort of system of  government over there you know we’ve got first P the post majority Le what you know two-party Â
System that is fundamentally flawed for long-term planning and and strategy you know if you’ve  got you need collaboration you need cross-party consensus on things like housing Education Health  we just don’t have that and that’s not pointing fingers that’s stating the facts actually I think Â
One thing we’ve all we’ve kind of mentioned a lot and and it seems to be Global is that the  the housing crisis crisis in inverted Commerce I mean from a Global Perspective how how aware  are students inter you know globally aware of that and how is that driving their behaviors regarding Â
Booking you know is that driving Panic you know should we be looking at more of an organic kind  of you know less of a cyclical you know boom and bust kind of you know book booking system you know Â
What’s what’s kind of I guess the view that you all have from how how International students are  behaving when they’re booking accommodation so you can probably take the lead on this one so  first of I’m very happy again that now we all talking about student hous student housing and Â
But it pains that we talking about housing crisis so there’s no housing crisis crisis happens when  there’s no solution it’s not housing crisis you know of course there’s a real journalism happening  all the media been talking about housing crisis but there’s no crisis there’s a solution and Â
The solution is panel like this you know last week I was speaking London in one of the panel  wherein there were there were all the ministers in the house so Robin you will be happy you know  there are ministers who are talking about you know taking a stand on housing crisis or even Â
Po post study Visa or Indian or International students rights you know in UK so they are aware  of course this year is very interesting with elections and let’s not talk about politics  Martin but that’s a fact you know so there’s no cing crisis but every have faced last two years Â
That it’s real you know I mean I’m the last one to say about this because I was the last why the  stupid guy came in Nottingham back in 2011 didn’t book my accom stay in a hotel you know of course Â
I’m not complaining now because I’m making a you know CER out of that but not the right way to do  it you know you need as much as you book take time to apply two universities housing needs to  be sort out and that’s where education Partners education agents universities platform like us Â
You know education accommodation Partners needs to talk about housing you know but there’s no housing  crisis and it’s all across it’s not in UK same is in US Indian students or international student  don’t over housing till then they don’t get Visa I don’t blame them that’s where the education needs Â
To be done same thing happened Australia I still remember you know um someone booking accomodation  in Melbourne looking for 15200 AUD per week the the market price is of 400 500 AUD you know and  I don’t blame students because nobody talking about housing and nobody telling them that you Â
Know don’t don’t have that UNR expectation because that’s where the Western interest of universities  and education partners are but eventually if collectively we come together eventually if  student apply to a university and then he or she struggles for recommendation they’re not Â
Coming to that City we all know what happened to glasow right so there’s no housing crisis we all  need to educate the ecosystem and these are the ways we can educate there you don’t need  to have lavish parties you know we don’t need to encourage housing crising happening in any part Â
Of the world there’s no crisis there’s a solution we have been forced I’m a big big evangelist of  pbsa but if you know if there’s a limited pbsa we need to add hmos you know if student looking home Â
Stay we need to add home stays like if people are looking for flexible contracts not only  fixed contract you know we need to add if you only believe that okay this is a solution and Â
We try to push across the throat that okay this is a solution book it I mean either they will  not come to that City or they not coming to that country choice is our so so high time talk about Â
Housing crisis and there’s no housing crisis over to you I I would strongly disagree that obviously  there is a student housing crisis as long as we still have students that need to go go camping Â
As long as we have students that on our Bridge as long as students need to sleep on a couch as long  as give up their dream no no I’ll get i’ll get where I agree with you yes but not in UK not in Â
London not in let’s agree to disagree I think you know clearly there is a road to a solution  here but you know I guess I guess it starts with uh I think the question also start with  that with being aware that there should at least be transparency to International students about Â
Student accommodation issues or opportunities that exist in the different study destinations  I see all too many institutions happily recruit students without considering the fact whether that  student will indeed have access to to any type of accommodation um you know any institution that Â
Doesn’t offer any type of housing solution or that doesn’t work with any type of housing provider a  booking platform or Worse even stays muted on the topic of accommodation while shame on them  because it’s really important that the students is at least aware and then it’s of course in the end Â
It’s the choice of the student as long as they are transparent um but accommodation should be  part of any student recruitment process from the very beginning um and transparency so you know  so I share your optimism there are solutions out there but we’re still dealing with a lot Â
Of issues that need to that need to be addressed uh by this industry and the stakeholders all all  together yeah I’d agree I think that um talking I think universities have have a really Prime  leading role to play here around providing that information um to in in a in an accessible way Â
You know if they’re using if they using agents to recruit overseas then those agents need you  know they need to have the right information and we need to make the universities need to be making Â
Sure that the agents are you know are using that information in the right in the right way at the  right times and not over promising um and um you know and also as well accepting accepting that and Â
I think actually from my experience certainly over the last few years you know we’ve seen definitely  you know universities sort of stepping up and um and and and um improving the information that they  are using because it’s in their best interest ultimately um so I think we’re heading in the Â
Right direction on that but also you got to accept that you know you’re dealing with you’re dealing  with people who who are applying to come to a a new country potentially for the first time um  you know leaving their families you know they’re going to be bombarded with information and pick Â
On sora’s point you know we see it all the time International students coming they’ve  had all the information sent to them they’ve not opened a single email uh or if they have  they’ve not understand understood the language that that we’re using in those emails you know Â
We’re talking about we’re talking about a housing housing sector that’s that’s completely foreign to  them um and using terminology that they just don’t understand we at Bournemouth we run um we we run  housing workshops um that where basically just you know we just invite students in and and just take Â
Them through everything around explaining what an as is you know explaining you know that you can’t  just leave a you can’t just kind of hand over a property to somebody else you know when when you Â
Move out and you know there all these things you know and you hear this stuff around sort of you  know you know oh back in my country it works like this and it’s like yeah you know get you Â
Know we get that so that people are coming with these with the with the you know the it’s a lot  for them to take on board so I think universities kind of you know they need to they’ve got a big Â
Job in in in trying on that Journey at some point you know trying to sort of make sure that those  students kind of get the information they need in the most accessible way um but yeah you know it’s Â
Uh it’s an ongoing challenge particularly going back to the cyclical Point around that that you  were making I think that at the moment we are universities most universities that I’m aware  of are going year to year right now you know they they’re forecasting you know you know gone of the Â
Days you know 10 years ago again pre-co a lot of universities would have sort of 10year student  number plans and they could pretty much you know with some some confidence say yeah that’s that’s  that’s a trajectory of travel on you know right now I think all of that for a lot of universities Â
Has pretty much gone out the window and they are going year to year right now um and when  that and then obviously that has a huge impact on accommodation because you know a couple of  years ago Nigeria was seen as as one of the big growth countries you know the naira has Â
Completely tanked the economy is flatlined all of a sudden the Nigerian Market has dried up and  everyone’s going we’ plan to bring in X number of Nigerian students suddenly they’re gone you  know so so you know the international market is is very you know you’re exposed to lots of Â
Different risks as a university and you can’t you can’t build a strategy around that and Joe what  are you seeing you’re across the the the globe what are you seeing around those cycles and the  shifting changes across across the world I think it really does differ by Market by country um and Â
How how students behave in terms of when they book how they book how early or late they book  uh and it’s suppose it’s a wider question because a lot of factors come into play such as government Â
Policy if you think about visas for Internationals how long do they take to process when do they get  that certainty that they can actually come in you know how are they allowed are they allowed to to Â
Hold rooms until they wait for those visas or not um it’s it really does vary so and also whether  they they’re happy to book just online or whether they need to visit because as as we’ll all know  Europeans for example Southern Europeans will be more likely to visit whereas Internationals Â
From Asia will be predominantly online rather than flying all that way to visit so you’ll get  each market will react differently in terms of the types of bookings they get and when they happen in Â
The cycle um and I’m not sure you can even from our perspective how you can plan when a certain  cohort from a certain country will book I think it is it’s very difficult to do that and it depends Â
On you know the level of re Bookers and renewals that you have in country as well as to to skew  the numberers so you know I said at the start the data is king and the more information we can get Â
Year on year and and you know surveys of this type that you can build upon and start to see Trends  and what’s happening will will influence decision making going forward I think Robin and and and  martine’s point that they just made you know from my perspective who who do International students Â
Trust the most it has to be universities has to be that’s where they’re enrolling for the course  or wish to go to for the course and and Robin said that you know it’s universities need to do a lot Â
More in terms of informing International students we can’t make them open emails or Robin can’t make  them open emails that’s true but you know how do how do we get through to them and if we think of  pbsa it’s it’s just one option it’s just one option across the many different options that Â
Are out there whether it’s HMO co-living private sector BTR whatever it may be we you know students  don’t just live in pbsa there are other options out there like and and sorup mentioned the point Â
As well it’s just figuring out are they fit for purpose and I think you know what we all want is  a is a standard where every student feels safe and secure in that home and is able to study properly Â
Um and have that that that space to be able to to get their head down and study as well as you know  not worry and you know the mental factors come in um as well in terms of that pastoral care element Â
And well-being element so it it’s a far greater problem than just putting it at pbsa door like  Martine said and that collaborative approach um which Simeon outlined earlier I think is  is certainly the way forward you know we’ve seen it in other cities in Milan for example the the Â
The new not new now but the the the the planners and the mayor that are in place there are really  consultative on that and they talk to universities they talk to local businesses they’re looking at  how they divide up the city of Milan and where can they put student housing normal housing Â
Affordable housing um and Commercial and really trying to sort of create a fabric of a city where  everything is sort of intertwined you don’t create ghettos of just students only for example you know  more that collaborative approach is really needed moving forward and you know hence why certainly we Â
Do and other pbsa providers are always trying to partner up with universities and it’s not  necessarily just about nominations agreements but it’s you know offering that awareness of the  product that you have that the universities can then pass on to to students because I come back Â
To my first statement who do the students trust in its universities Simeon how prepared do you you  think students are about the options available to them when they’re coming to a particular country Â
To study guess what you’re on mute again well for me I’m really sorry um for me it’s um sorry I just  remember that my mentor always say don’t say sorry yeah for me is fundamentally about looking at the  entire student journey and what would mean value for money for students especially International Â
Students that you know pay huge amount of money um to get the education here so for us the first  few weeks of the student journey is is really crucial to the entire student experience if they Â
Don’t have a good experience within that first few weeks then um you know they would not forget they  would always remember and regardless of what happens later because you know the first few  weeks they get to integrate themselves into the Community find friends join a club and Society get Â
A part-time job and and you know that cycle of the student Journey so the question I usually ask is  Imagine going to traveling to Lagos and you’ve got nowhere to stay um for us you know culturally it’s Â
It’s extreme very extreme for us and um uh the work we’ve done is to get the University reflect  on messaging um transparency is key a message like this is the current housing situation in Â
X City or Y City and uh this is what you need to do to get a space of you know these are the spaces  available and this is what you need to do in terms of Readiness from their home country as you know Â
International student would need a different level of support to you know that pre Aral support uh  you know at the start of the relationship until they arrive until they integrate to their studies  you know they leave they need a different level of support so for example if the communication is Â
Not right there’s a lot of scam accommodation scam going on a lot of money is lost in that  and any student that loses a huge amount of money to scamers would not forget that would  be like a turnaround in their experience in in a negative way so um for us it’s about transparency Â
Communication to uh in international students and some level of resourcing and responsibility from  the University specifically for accommodation for international students so um for example  uh I I don’t know if it’s Scotland that I don’t know if it’s in Scotland where the government has Â
A certain level of response not the government but you know it’s a policy that the university  is has a certain level of responsibility for housing International students uh cuz you’re  sponsoring the student and you know uh they need that extra layer of support to be able to settle Â
In to have a good experience 10 years ago it was different from what I heard you know International  students arrive and they are put in student accommodations now is it’s it’s it’s changed  it’s a different story totally so yeah that’s my view thank you Sim and there is a a comment really Â
In the Q&A Box about that quite often students are only told very very late on that they’ve got  a place at their University so I guess from their point of view the the kind of the mechanism of of  booking accommodation probably comes into their mind quite late because they haven’t been given Â
A a secure place at University we’re not going to solve that problem on um on this webinar but it’s  um it’s an interesting point and it comes back to that jointed up approach really that collaboration  that you know understanding the relationship that universities have with accommodation with Â
The wider city as well and and from what we’ve heard so far it does sound very much like there  are some really positive conversations starting to happen Citywide so you know if we were to Â
Have this same webinar in um you know in a few years years we we would hope that things have  have improved massively for international students um can I just make one point I know we’re nearly  at time I think that I think again just about collaboration you’re absolutely right I think Â
It’s really there’s a there’s an open goal for universities and pbsa to work together um you  know regardless of whether there’s nominations or leases in place you know direct lets as well you  know it you know as a university you know they are the pbsa are right there they’re in your city you Â
Know your students are in them go and talk to them and develop a relationship with them you know you  don’t have to have a nominations agreement or release with them you can do this with direct  they’re your students you should work with the pbsa and pbsa operators they need to reciprocate Â
And give give their site teams the space and time to be able to develop those relationships  and not just bombard them telling them to sell all the time so there’s a bit of given there’s  two things that universities and pbsa need to do the big problem is the students who don’t live in Â
Pbsa where do they live you know and there’s a big problem you know students who who who go and live  in different cities and commute because they’ve got friends and family they’re you know they’re  the ones they’re the they’re the students who are out there and not benefiting from these kind of Â
Residential life programs well-being support that the pbsa and the universities can offer in in in  partnership with each other that’s the big area of kind of concern for me um is is where those  students are and what kind of experiences they’re having yeah absolutely really really good point Â
Thank you for raising that um as Robin said we are out of time time um it was an amazing discussion  thank you to our panelists and everybody who listened um we hope that the points that have Â
Been raised here is is just the start really um you know for us certainly with the report that  we’ve we’ve produced in partnership with Yugo and University living it’s the start of a conversation  um and we didn’t solve any any issues today but we certainly started the conversation so we hope that Â
You take these away to your peers within your own organizations and hopefully um when you receive  the report very shortly you will add to those considerations as well the report will be sent  to everybody who registered for this webinar um and there’s also a link that has been posted in Â
Our chat um so you can share the link with anybody that hasn’t registered so that they get it um as  well um it’s a free report we’ve created it to add value to the shared living landscape so we’d love Â
To know what you think once you’ve digested it and finally a big thank you to our partners Yugo  and University living for sharing our vision and helping to bring this research to the sector we  really appreciate your help in um making it happen and I know I’m pretty sure the sector will and Â
Everyone that’s watched will so a really big thank you to that um as marketers we do believe that you  can’t communicate your product your audience if you don’t really understand what they’re  thinking feeling and doing um and the product can’t evolve in the right way if you aren’t Â
Engaging with your customers um along the way and Consulting with them um and that’s for us where  the Strate strategists come from in the property marketing strategists um it’s about the who the  what the why the where and the when um and we hope that we can continue to have these discussions and Â
Work with many View and and help the sector to collaborate because I think that is is a really  key point and one that is only going to be the way that we solve the crisis or not crisis however we Â
Want to uh want to view it um so thank you for those um who value the Insight we provide to  the sector and we look forward to seeing you all next time and thank you so much for joining us