“Desperate Need” For Board

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32220, 12 February 1970, Page 2

“Desperate Need” For Board

; Christchurch may have reached saturation point in supplying accommodation for students, according to Miss A. F. Borrie, accommodation officer for the University of Canterbury. “We desperately need' householders to come forward to offer beds and board for about 200 male students and 20 girls,” she said. “At present this seems to be an al-J most impossible target" These are first-year students who will be away from home, for the first time—many of > them in a strange country. Main Concern “The first-year students are our main concern,” Miss Borrie said. Any accommodation left over after the “freshers” are settled will be available for other students. “The situation is urgent as pnrnlmpnt wpalt hppins nn

; enrolment weeK oegins on (February 23,” she said. “Some of the overseas men students ‘will be arriving this weekend.” Miss Borrie is seeking more (than 100 beds with private board for overseas men studients who will be attending lectures at the Ham university site, and about 100 beds and board for New Zealand , male students near both the 11am and city sites. She is also looking for pri-l vate accommodation for about 20 women students, most of whom will be going to the | city site.

Student Needs Students want to live with-' in walking or cycling distance of the university, whichever, the site. They need single ( rooms, as no two students have the same working pat-j tern. If they do share a bed-i room they need another room I available to them for study-, ling

“They need quietness, a desk or table, storage space! for books and clothing, good heating and lighting, and nou-i [rishing meals,” she said. Riccarton, Papanui, Hornby, and Addington are suburbs' .where accommodation should (be available for students go- 1 Ung to flam, she said. “The science and engineer-i ing faculties are at Ham and jthe secondary division of thej Teachers’ College is moving there this year. Hence we need more beds near this, iarea than in the city,” she said.

Nevertheless, private board j was still needed for both men! and women students who! would be doing courses at the Worcester Street site. Any householders willing to board students should ring Miss Borrie at the University of Canterbury, telephone 65-819. extension 771. “Our boarding bursar (Mrs C. Sloane) or 1 will try to visit anyone who offers accommodation, to meet the

■ householder and try to match a student to their home,” Miss I Borrie said. The average board students were able to pay was $ll or |sl2 a week, she said. Some | students were prepared to pay a little more for superior accommodation particularly if lit was in one of the vicinities I of the university sites. ' “It is better for first-year overseas students to have prii vate accommodation,” she said. “They adjust more i quickly to a new culture and I ‘ learn English more quickly' in a home.” There must be many fami- . lies in Christchurch who had ' a room left vacant by a son . or daughter going to univerI sity in another city or leaving I home for some other reason. These families with extra

i rooms could provide the ideal , ;(environment for New Zea-' | land or Overseas students at-j il tending the University of ■ Canterbury, she said. li ' ' Caravans i "Last year many students settled down happily in caravans parked beside a house,” jshe said. “Caravans can make] very comfortable outside bedrooms and studies when connected with electric ] power.” I Miss Borrie said she wanted householders who boarded students and the students themselves—to feel I free to discuss any problems l with her. “We don’t want household-: ers to feel that they mustl keep a student if, for any rea-l son, the arrangement is not satisfactory.” she added. Any offers of temporary board, until other more permanent arrangements were made for new students, would 1 be most welcome in the mean- * time—for a few nights or I even a week or two, she said.

Miss Borrie is not looking for flats for students. “The university office does not handle flats for stu-i dents,” she said. “This is done privately between stu-l dents and landlords. But people who have flats and! houses to let to students should contact the Students’ Union at 11am. where there is an accommodation board"