Students to survey accommodation

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32701, 2 September 1971, Page 17

Students to survey accommodation

A research programme on the accommodation needs of university students over the next 10 years is to be conducted by the New Zealand University Students’ Association.

The' president of the association, (Mr D. B. C. Cuthbert) said yesterday that the country was now entering a period when the shortage of reasonable residential accommodation in university centres was affecting the ability of students to gain the maximum benefit from a university education.

It was clear to the association, from regional surveys and a national accommodation seminar held in May, that students at technical institutes, teachers’ colleges, universities, and nursing schools were all suffering from a paucity of proper accommodation. The research was required

to convince both the Government and university planners that the problem facing students over accommodation had reached a critical level, he said.

The national survey will be conducted by Mr F. T. Baird, a vice-president of the association, who will collect and process all the data from the universities by the end of January, 1972. A report on the results will be sent to the University Grants Committee for transmission to the Government after a national conference has discussed the results and recommendations arising from the report. The report will be released publicly in July next year.