Accommodation is one of the biggest problems that I faced here in Sussex University. As soon as I was awarded the title of Visiting fellow in June 2010, for a period of six months from 1st October, 2010 to 31st March 2011 in SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) by the School of Business, Management and Economics, University of Sussex,. I started looking for accommodation at the University campus.
Majority of the first year undergraduate students live in the University Campus, The University has five accommodation blocks. The housing office of the University also helps those students who prefer to live outside the campus, as also in the University-owned accommodation across Brighton and Hove. The housing office maintains a list of rented properties in the local area, and also gives advice relating to getting property on rented basis. The university accommodation is self-catering, with cooking facilities in shared kitchens. Typically rooms you get with bed, wardrobe, shelves, desk and chair, desk lamp and easy chair. Bathroom facilities are normally shared, although most rooms do have their own sink. The majority of rooms are for one person although some are shared at slightly lower cost.
Since I had this information, I had written a mail to the housing office of the University of Sussex in July 2010. I got an auto-generated reply saying "Please note that the closing date for housing applications for 2010/11 is 1st August 2010".
I continued my efforts. On 5th August 2010, I got a reply saying "Unfortunately we would not be able to provide accommodation for visitors at the time your request as our residences will be full of students and the guest rooms do not become available until mid December. We would recommend trying our private sector website www.yourstudentpad.co.uk password welcome and leaving a message for landlords to contact you if they can help with a 6 month tenancy. Alternatively you could try the host family list attached as they may be happy to help or perhaps contact a bed and breakfast/ hotel from the following link:
I kept my efforts on and meanwhile I wrote a mail to Dr. Parimal Patel, Sr. Research Fellow at SPRU and he suggested me to contact his colleague Neha Rai, regarding my accommodation problem. She guided me and gave me the website addresses of private accommodation letting agents like http://www.Rightmoves.co.uk and http://www.gumtree.com I visited all these websites from Goa.But in vain. Finally while sending my application for UK visa I was required to attach accommodation proof. I wrote back to Neha again. Realising my problem, she sent me an invitation letter to stay with her family.
Her letter helped me in getting the UK visa. Meanwhile I received a letter from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) permitting me to stay for initial fifteen days, i.e., from 1st October, 2010 to 15th October 2010.
After coming over here on 2nd October, 2010, it took me 15 days to find out a furnished, single bed room flat at Brighton-Hove. Every day I used to check on the website the availability of flats. I experienced that within 24 hours of announcement on the website the flats are occupied.
Normally those who want to join the University of Sussex, particularly students and parents visit the university campus one year in advance on open days. On open days, the students and parents come to see the facilities particularly, the accommodation .
If I was to come here at least by 15th September, 2010 then probably I would have got the accommodation easily outside the university campus and not on the university campus. This year, the number of students who joined for the various undergraduate courses of SU is more than that of the previous years. Hence, the university could not provide accommodation to all the students. A large number of students had to go off the campus and by 25 th September,2010, accommodation outside campus was also full. The Autumn term started from 4th October, 2010 for the academic year 2010-2011.
Sir
ReplyDeletei am glad you've posted this. This is the kind of issues that students who come to, say, Chowgule College, will never have since most of them stay at home.
In your opinion of those who were lucky enough to get accommodation on campus, how early did they have to apply. What does it cost students to stay on campus? What does self catering mean? Every student has over and above everything they have to do at University, have to cook as well?
Sir
ReplyDeletePlease send us a photograph of your flat.
I had asked for a photograph of the room allocated to you at SPRU, but this did not materialize.
Looking forward to this one.
All first year full time undergraduates applying through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) who firmly accept an offer of a place for the following October are guaranteed a place in the University managed housing provided the housing office receives housing application by the 1st August every year.
ReplyDeleteThere are seven different areas (Swanborough, Brighthelm, East Slope, Stanmer Court , Lewes Court, Park Houses, Park Village)of accommodation on campus and a wide variety of residences off campus. The University is able to house nearly 3,500 students. The rent ranges from £77.00 to £120.00 per week and tenancy is 40 / 49 weeks only.
All the residences are self-catered with shared kitchens and communal areas. The majority share bath/shower/toilet facilities and are mixed-sex. The kitchens are equipped with cookers, fridge-freezers, kettle and most have microwaves. Students can either bring their own cutlery, crockery and cooking utensils or they can purchase a catering pack for £17.50.
Thank You for the blog.
ReplyDeleteWe at university living provide the best in class accommodation around the top cities.
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