In February 2024, EUSA President Sharan Atwal wrote a letter to the University Court in which she addressed the ongoing student dissatisfaction regarding the student housing crisis, the impact of the wider cost-of-living crisis, and gender-based violence on campus.
She also called for the university to “take the opportunity to consider an alternative approach to communicating about and resolving these significant student experience issues.”
In a survey conducted by The Student, all students agreed with Atwal’s statement that the limited housing available leaves them vulnerable to exploitation.
In addition to that, more than half of the students surveyed stated that their current living situation is not within their budget and that their rent alone is not fully covered by their student loans.
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Sharan Atwal criticises the University of Edinburgh for raising rent in the coming academic year by 8 per cent, while student loans will only increase by 2,4 per cent.
“The University brings thousands of students to the city each year and had a responsibility to ensure that each of them has somewhere suitable to live.
“Not only should the University be providing affordable accommodation to students, but to proactively find a long-term solution, should be using their influence in the city to lobby for policies that benefit students, from rent caps to student housing cooperatives.”
While 87 per cent of students surveyed agreed that the university should provide more accommodation for students and more than half of students were in favour of rental caps, some saw the issue elsewhere.
One person stated:
“The problem isn’t a lack of university-owned accommodation […]. The problem comes from housing stock being bought up for holiday lets, thus increasing the demand, and the university’s pursuit of endless growth in student numbers beyond what they and the city can accommodate. […] Edinburgh is now overwhelmed because student numbers are beyond capacity.”
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The second issue Atwal addressed was the general effect of the cost-of-living crisis on student living and the lack of university support.
In March 2023, over 2000 students signed an open letter calling on the university to address this issue.
The four key propositions—not increasing rent, subsidising transport, providing free breakfast on all campuses, and eradicating library and accommodation misconduct fines—all remain unaddressed to date.
The third issue Atwal raises in her letter is the university’s handling of cases of gender-based violence.
Atwal’s main point of criticism is that survivors of gender-based violence do not receive adequate support by the university and have to go through a retraumatizing process after which only the respondent receives a report, not the survivor.
Read More: Societies publish open letter condemning university’s handling of sexual violence on campus
“When there are so many barriers […] to reporting and reportedly less than half of gender-based violence cases investigated by the university are upheld, it’s clear that currently students feel this is not an issue that the university takes seriously,” Atwal writes.
This letter follows a motion passed in November that stated “no confidence” in the university leadership’s ability to adequately address student concerns and called for Principal Peter Mathieson’s resignation.
HCA representative Sam Marks, who was responsible for the motion, spoke to The Student about Sharan Atwal’s letter to the University Court, calling it “an amazing progress point that student action got something through to the University Court.”
“However, wider issues still remain.”
He went on to point out the importance of student activism.
“Whether that’s through an EUSA motion, marching in a protest, or calling out injustices you see in whatever platform you have, every single one of us has the ability and responsibility to be changemakers for the better. Student action has always been the cornerstone of progress for the University of Edinburgh and let’s keep that momentum going!”
“The Old College – University of Edinburgh” by jambox998 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.