Europe’s higher education systems are entering a decisive moment.
As international mobility diversifies beyond the traditional study destinations, the such as the United States, Australia, and Canada, Europe is gaining ground. Growing English-taught offers, post-study opportunities, and the cultural accessibility of its cities are drawing more students each year.

Yet the continent’s biggest challenge may not be in its classrooms, but in its cities. Housing shortages are now among the strongest deterrents to international study, threatening to slow the momentum of countries seeking to attract and retain global talent. Across nearly every major destination market, shortages and affordability pressures are emerging as structural risks to internationalisation.
If Europe is to turn opportunity into long-term advantage, housing must be treated as essential infrastructure for education.

National perspectives: France and the Netherlands

Both France and the Netherlands illustrate the scale and urgency of the challenge.

In France, providing access to student housing has been a national priority for several years. The government’s 2023 roadmap aims to add 35,000 new rental units by 2027, complementing a network of 240,000 social residences (including 175,000 managed by CROUS). Measures include renovation of existing buildings, rent freezes in CROUS residences, and the creation of the forthcoming Label Habitat Étudiant, a 2025 certification designed to highlight residences that deliver quality, safety, accessibility, and a positive social environment for students.

The Netherlands is addressing a similar imbalance through its National Action Plan for Student Housing, which brings together ministries, municipalities, and universities to tackle a projected shortage expected to exceed 60,000 rooms by 2030.
The plan focuses on accelerating new construction, improving affordability, and encouraging innovative solutions such as tax-free room rentals by homeowners; an approach that complements Nuffic’s emphasis on linking internationalisation with student wellbeing and inclusion.

Both countries’ initiatives recognise a shared reality: housing policy has become an integral part of higher-education strategy.

Evidence from across Europe: The Student Living Monitor

The latest report by Class Foundation’s, Student Living Monitor (SLM) 2023–25, based on almost 19,000 student responses from 16 key countries, provides the clearest evidence yet that where students live directly shapes how they learn and succeed.

• Students in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) record higher happiness cores compared to those in private rentals. Students forced to live at home due to affordability or accessibility report the wellbeing scores.  

• Choice matters: students who secure their first-choice accommodation average are thriving more than those who do not.  The primary reasons are unavailability (51%) and affordability (23%), with the latter group scoring just 49.1.

The data also underlines the social dimension of housing.
Students who regularly participate in residence-led community events achieve higher happiness scores than does who do not access to communal spaces and activities
41% of respondents report loneliness, and their wellbeing falls from 63.7 to 49.9; a difference of nearly 14 points, the largest decline linked to any single factor in the survey.

Affordability: The hidden driver of wellbeing

Across Europe, financial stress has become one of the strongest predictors of student wellbeing. Two-thirds of students describe their finances as fragile, and those constantly worrying about money register an MHI-5 of 48.1, almost 18 points below financially secure peers (65.8).

From data to action

The data is clear: when affordability, availability, and wellbeing align, Europe’s students thrive, and so do its universities. As governments and institutions gather at The Class Conference 2025, the conversation must shift from recognising the housing problem to treating it as central to Europe’s higher education competitiveness.

If Europe wants to lead the next decade of global education, it must ensure every student it attracts can also find a place to belong.
Students who feel secure, connected, and supported are more likely to persist, perform, and stay. Those who struggle to find or afford housing are at greater risk of isolation and attrition.

To reinforce Europe as a leading study destination, international-education strategies must be aligned with housing capacity and social infrastructure. That means linking national mobility targets with realistic plans for new beds, affordability frameworks, and wellbeing support.  

We delve further into this conversation — with the latest national insights and strategies from Campus France, Nuffic, and Erasmus+ Portugal, alongside data insights from Studyportals on study and international mobility trends — in the session “Demand: Reinforcing Europe as the Leading Study Destination” at The Class Conference, taking place on 6 November at LX Factory, Lisbon.

The 2025 Edition of European Student Living Monitor launches on 5^th November 2025.  An updated open data interactive dashboard  (access exclusive Class partners only) will soon follow.

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