The National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland held its 2024 conference in Stirling on 27-28 March. The conference saw discussion of Scotland’s student housing crisis and the release of the NUS’s Manifesto for our Future.
The manifesto called on MSPs to make policy changes for students in three areas: a more welcoming environment for international students, fairer society for workers, and a more democratic Scotland and UK.
Specific provisions were demanded such as granting access to public funds to international students, extending Universal Credit to students, lowering the voting age to 16, and reversing the UK’s withdrawal from the Erasmus+ scheme.
The manifesto also called on the UK government to devolve employment law and international student policy to the Scottish Parliament, in addition to extending voter eligibility in UK elections to all residents, including international students and individuals with refugee status.
Prior to the conference, The Student spoke to outgoing NUS Scotland President, Ellie Gomersall, who presented at the conference.
Gomersal took particular aim at the student housing crisis, saying:
“Students are really, really suffering at the moment, both from the price and quality of accommodation and we’re saying enough is enough.
“We’re saying that as part of the Scottish Government’s Housing Bill, there has to be parity between purpose-built student accommodation and the private rented sector.”
These comments come as the Scottish Government’s rent cap and eviction moratorium expired on 31 March after over a year of freezing rent increases at three per cent.
While rent was capped for private accommodation, the Scottish Government did not extend the freeze to student accommodation. Earlier this year, the University of Edinburgh confirmed plans to increase rent costs for its student accommodation by eight per cent.
On the topic, Gomersall told The Student:
“You would expect that universities who have a duty of care to the students who are living in those homes would honour that rent cap, [that] they would respect the fact that students really can’t afford rent increases at the moment, and not increase rents at all, let alone beyond that cap, but that’s not what we’ve seen.
“Whether it’s in Edinburgh, whether it’s Stirling, a number of universities across the country are increasing their rent by significantly more than what would be legally allowed if the rent cap did apply to purpose-built student accommodation.
“I think that’s absolutely shocking. And not least for universities like Edinburgh, which has got billions of pounds sitting in reserves.”
“You’ve got a principal who takes home a six-figure salary (a huge salary several times that of the first minister) and thousands of students who are facing potential homelessness because they can’t afford the rent that the university and other landlords are charging. That’s unacceptable.”
“Stirling Scotland” by Monkey Mash Button is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.