Student Services
Theme 1: Homes Fit for Study
Homes fit for study is focussed around ensuring that students have suitable accommodation which enables them to thrive. Over the course of this year, and particularly through our upcoming housing research, we will aim to understand the key factors that influence students’ housing choices, and the experience they have once living in their accommodation, whether they rent privately, live in halls, stay at home or live elsewhere. The research will look more closely at students’ experiences of renting, including how they look for housing, their interaction with letting agents and landlords, and how they finance deposits and rent.
In order to establish key areas for national campaigning moving towards the General Election, we need to hear from students and their unions on what they feel are the most critical housing issues for students, and what they feel needs to change.
Do we need to focus our attentions on rogue landlords and getting councils to act? Is the most important thing to empower tenants through education and collective action? How do we combat the scourge of letting agent fees?
What exactly makes a home fit for study, and how can we work together to ensure that, as much as possible, students’ homes enable them to thrive not only in their studies, but as they live their lives in the community?
Download the Key theme report for Homes fit for Study
Discuss this theme
Theme 2: Local Public Services
This theme considers the range of services students rely on day to day and how they can influence these services in a changing commissioning environment. We want to consider how these services can shape, make or break a students’ time in education, and new ways of engaging to represent students’ needs, whether they be transport, health or community safety.
Going further, we want to find out about your experiences of the localism agenda; has this resulted in new avenues for potential influence, or has it resulted in students being pitted against other groups?
What strategies can students’ unions use to influence service provision and local decision making more effectively and make students’ voices heard?
We aim to understand more about where students fit into their communities, and how they can counter negative perceptions to engage constructively on key issues that affect them.