July 31

• Dutch student union LSVb is very dissatisfied that most universities/colleges are planning to hold their freshmen introduction weeks mostly online.
• The school year is scheduled to begin on August 22 at the United World College in Freiburg, but 50 students are not allowed to enter Germany. [German]
• Financial close on £100m+ Kingston student accommodation scheme
• Revealed: what students want from their accommodation post-COVID
• Development round-up: Notts scheme closer, new PBSA site in Edinburgh
• Résidence Gif by the French firm, SOA Architectes is a student housing project in Gif-sur-Yvette, a commune about thirty kilometres from the centre of Paris.
• New rush for student rooms in the Netherlands causes international students to lose out as they are not as aware of regulations [Dutch]
• Portuguese university residences may lose beds in the new school year due to new guidelines, concerns about implications on existing housing crisis [Portuguese]
• Liguria Region provides funding of over 20 million euros for university buildings: there will be two residences that will accommodate 384 students. [Italian]
• New student dormitory in Trier uses wood construction [German]

July 30

• A quarter of final-year undergraduate students are less likely to undertake a postgraduate (PG) study than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent study.
• Ascott’s co-living brand lyf adds 6 new properties in Australia, China, Philippines
• TradeRisks arranged £90m private placement for PBSA refurbishment
• US: Half of HEIs see a drop in applications, 18% see “substantial decline”
• The EU’s new seven-year financial framework and coronavirus recovery plan fail to secure and strengthen Europe as a research location, according to three key science organisations.
• UK student accommodation provider Student Roost is set to open its 50th location. The Oaks is the provider’s first property in Warwick, and it will open in two phases, offering accommodation options to more than 1,000 students.
• The Student Hotel Opens in Bologna on October, 1st
• Commentary: COVID‐19 Pandemic and Higher Education: International Mobility and Students’ Social Protection
• It seems to me that universities and colleges interpret the infection control regulations far too strictly compared to high schools and elementary schools, says Trond Winther, associate professor at the University of Southeast Norway and Østfold University College [Norwegian]
• The ‘co-living’ flats planned for the edge of Manchester city centre that could be the future – or the ‘slums of the future’

July 29

• New reports reveal “shocking” impact of Covid-19 on UK ELT
• The U.K.’s largest listed student housing provider’s plans to reinstate its dividend could be stalled by a “second wave” of COVID-19, Unite Group CEO Richard Smith said during a first-half 2020 earnings call.
• Disruptive Transformation – A Way To Change Higher Education
• Private student accommodation company Sanctuary Students has refused to terminate rental contracts with students, resulting in some students going on strike and refusing to pay their rent.
• Nottingham universities reveal plan to shut down student parties when term starts
• Australia’s graduate work visa scheme attracts international students to our universities. Is it enough?
• Ivanhoé Cambridge and Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors’ partnership with Greystar Real Estate Partners to invest €1 billion to develop student and young professional housing in the Greater Paris Region is the latest commitment of foreign capital to the European market.
• Unite delays 1,300-bed student housing schemes because of the lockdown construction hiatus earlier in the year.
• Developer Urbanite has applied for planning permission for 112-bedroom student housing block on Foss Islands Road
• Beyond Zoom: can virtual reality replace the classroom experience?
• International students in the UK turn to food banks in lockdown
• International student visa applications to Australia have plunged by more than a third with growing fears the sector will take up to five years to recover.
• Since the inauguration of the first French co-living building, nothing has stopped The Babel Community. For 2025 their objective is to reach 25 addresses. [French]
• Over 4,000 international students waiting for news on their Swedish residence permits
• Concerns over late-night student behaviour fuel residents’ objections to Trinity accommodation plan
• Knight Frank has launched a new dedicated residential capital markets team to focus on the residential investment sector. Former head of residential capital markets at CBRE, Tim MacMahon, has been hired to lead the team
• Tensions over the rise in student accommodation prices in Toulouse [French]
• University of Algarve (UAlg) opens additional 1475 places for students in the academic year 2020/2021 [Portuguese]
• A 10% increase of international students at CEU Cardenal Herrera University (CEU UCH) next year. “Thus consolidating the internationalization strategy of the university”. [Spanish]
• The Miguel Hernández University has registered more than 11,300 applications for the almost 2,500 places it offers to study the degrees for the next academic year . This represents an increase of 10% compared to previous [Spanish]
• The municipality of Amsterdam has awarded the tender for the very last high-rise building lot at Overhoeks to the team including Mecanoo and Xior with their entry ‘BrinkToren’. [Dutch]

July 28

• A record number of 70,000 students have been offered admission to Danish higher education. As students begin to prepare for their studies, the hunt is now on for housing. Finding student housing is most difficult in Copenhagen as well as in other large cities such as Aarhus, Aalborg, and Odense
• As the pandemic upends higher education, is residential college worth the cost?
• Plans for a five-story block of co-living flats in Bedminster have been rejected for being too cramped.
• 4 questions students have for colleges regarding this fall
• Bocconi University sees an increase in student enrolment including international students, with Brexit and rankings playing an important role [Italian]
• The competition of Italian universities to grab freshmen in the COVID era with discounts on taxes and gadgets [Italian]
• Portuguese government wants the full resumption of classroom teaching activities, but the Lisbon Academic Association does not agree with this scenario, alerting to the dangers [Portuguese]
• The Polytechnic University of Cartagena and Mi Campus have begun working on 270-bed student residence which will take 18 months and cost 9.5 million euros. [Spanish]
• Student opinion: Where were the HE contingency plans and routines for dealing with infection crises on March 13 when the corona crisis occurred? [Norwegian]

July 27

• Stay Campus London, a UK provider of student accommodation and English language programmes, has launched a free two-week self-isolation offer for international students who are subject to quarantine rules.
• Rankings: top countries for great higher education opportunities
• Developer Bouygues Immobilier is launching the construction of its R’Campus in Brest, a 205-student accommodation scheme. [French]
• Will foreign students be there for the start of the school year? [French]
• Corestate Capital Holding invests 25 million euros in new 258 student apartments in Salamanca [Spanish]
• New research by student employer, ThisIsStint, reveals a worrying picture for English students in the UK, comparing OECD countries across indicators including fees, the cost of living, and employment prospects.
• New planned accommodation at Dublin City University has been postponed indefinitely due to the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the university.
• Maven Capital Partners has announced the £2.8 million purchase of a site at Murieston Crescent in Edinburgh for the development of a £15 million purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) complex.
• COVID-19: Should students return to higher education?
• While the pandemic has created significant financial challenges for many higher education institutions, the campus itself may be the solution, Grace Winters and Elizabeth Levin write.
• New international students barred from US online-only classes
• REPORT: How Will COVID-19 Really Impact International Students’ Enrolments in 2020 & 2021?
• This year, it is easier for Norwegian students to get student housing [Norwegian]

July 26

• With an estimated 30% drop in international students at the University of Lisbon, there will be fewer residences available for students and teachers this year. [Portuguese]
• Irish students in limbo over accommodation as they await timetables
• A month after its creation, the Irish higher education dept is proving its worth

July 25

• The new 43-bed student accommodation at the University of Camerino has been inaugurated, a work created thanks to the Italian Red Cross, with the support of the Canadian government, the Canadian sister company, and the Italian Post Office. [Italian]

July 24

• Nuffic reports international students are still keen to travel to the Netherlands for their studies, preferably in September as originally planned.
• University students in Italy back on the attack: “Too many uncertainties about canteen and accommodation” [Italian]
• Uninest offers a risk-free rental model: “Flexi Stay – Flexi Pay” [German]
• According to research by Cimea and the European University of Rome, there hasn’t been a decline in number of foreign students who have chosen to study at an Italian university despite the pandemic [Italian]
• Micampus Residencias has begun the works to prepare the former Caja Cantabria nursing home in Cazoña into a modern residence for 419 students, in which it plans to invest between 20 and 25 million euros and which will be completed in 15 months. [Spanish]
• Xior Student Housing will revamp “Black Box” office building in Groningen into 300 homes, 225 intended for students [Dutch]
• OsloMet has ‘revoked admission’ to its master’s degree programmes taught in English for non-European Union students as a result of COVID-19.
• UK Conservative think tank Onward has called for caps on the number of international students from any one country in universities to “boost resilience” and wean institutions off their financial dependence on China.
• International students were already having trouble with landlords taking advantage of them in the Netherlands, but this situation worsened significantly during the coronavirus crisis, student union LSVB reported based on information from its Housing Hotline.
• College in 2020 is like overskiing/underskiing. The value of the college bundle sounds plausible but is actually meaningless.
• In scrapping university targets, the UK government will reverse progress and limit access to higher education for working-class students.
• Cork Councillors question the viability of student accommodation proposals in the current climate

July 23

• The Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research has communicated the co-financing for the construction of the Student House of Chieti inside the former Pierantoni Barracks, a property of the Municipality of Chieti
• Private co-living developers ‘can’t be relied upon to provide objective public health advice’ on Covid-19, warns Irish senator
• Since rents have exploded in Paris, finding accommodation has been synonymous with long-distance races. The least solvent profiles are the first to be rejected by the agencies, not to mention racial discrimination. [French]
• Rotterdam municipality creates housing agreement together with educational institutions, student housing organizations, and student organizations. With the aim to provide students with affordable student housing [Dutch]
• UK universities accused of over-reliance on fees from Chinese students
• Student opinion: Where were the HE contingency plans and routines for dealing with infection crises on March 13 when the corona crisis occurred? [Norwegian]
• EUA welcomes European Parliament resolution calling for more future-oriented EU budget deal
• 522-bed student accommodation development granted planning permission in Nottingham
• All higher education degrees officially recognized by Portugal to be recognized by Macau
• US universities including Harvard and the University of Southern California tell international students not to come to the US to take classes remotely as higher education groups lobby for greater clarity on federal policy
• Just In: The HousingAnywhere International Rent Index report for Q2 2020
• 190 million potential loss for the French Centre régional des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (CROUS) in 2020 due to the pandemic [French]
• Tune In at 13:00 GMT -4: Student housing amid the pandemic, infection control in buildings, and future airport design on “The Weekly”
• Blended learning: when edtech meets pedagogy. How have universities adapted their teaching during the pandemic and what will it mean for next year? James Higgins speaks to four experts in online teaching and pedagogy

July 22

• 5-year agreement signed with the University of Milan and the Lombard companies for residential construction in Milan, Pavia, and Lodi. The intent is to develop university housing services with the increase in dedicated residences and to offer widespread housing of Aler Heritage [Italian]
• Bookings data from UK student accommodation provider Host show a 5% increase in bookings from UK students
• Due to the length of student housing waiting list in Arnhem (NL) social housing providers switch to a lottery system
• Irish minister for education releases roadmap for colleges and universities in Ireland which limits the ability to hold lectures and graduation ceremonies
• The government of the Netherlands has relaxed income requirements for current international student because of Covid-19, while Dutch institutions and student accommodation providers have expressed optimism about recovery from the pandemic
• New student flat rules could stop building in ‘over-saturated’ Glasgow areas
• Universities and colleges in Wales are to receive a £50m support package to soften the impact of coronavirus. The Welsh Government fund aims to safeguard teaching and research as well as helping students.
• More than three quarters (77%) of international students who took part in a recent survey stated they would be willing to take part in quarantine programs if it meant commencing on-campus learning sooner.

July 21

• EAIE Blog: A holistic view of international student support
• Recent findings from the QS coronavirus survey of higher education institutions has revealed how universities are addressing the complex challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
• The French Minister of Higher Education announced the opening of 10,000 additional places as the school year begins in the most requested sectors of higher education, to cope with the influx of high school students this year after a record rate of passing the bac [French]
• Some US colleges invite a fraction of their students to live on campus this fall. But is that approach truly safer? And who gets to be on campus?
• Innovation in student engagement and flexibility in delivery have emerged as key to successful student recruitment in China amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a panel of higher education specialists.
• The UK’s announcement to grant British National Overseas passport holders in Hong Kong five years leave to remain with work and study rights has been welcomed by agents in the region, who report immediate interest spikes from students and families.
• The number of students coming to English language schools in Ireland could drop by 120,000 this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to school association Marketing English in Ireland.
• New plan for more student flats in central Reading. It could be the second studio development in the street.
• Top degrees will be harder to get after UK universities crackdown on grade inflation
• Are universities delivering the right graduates for the times?
• Liverpool-based Downing to expand student portfolio following £56m ‘green loan’ from HSBC UK
• Realty players may find big opportunity in the student housing sector; here’s how COVID is likely to help

July 20