Irish universities’ growth ‘limited by accommodation shortfalls’

Ireland is enjoying growth in international student numbers, but a student leader has warned that universities and the government need to be more upfront about nationwide accommodation shortages if the sector is going to continue to expand. 

The republic remains a small player in international education, with roughly 20,000 students, about 10 per cent of its total, coming from abroad. Growth has been steady since Brexit, with the number of enrolled European Union students going up by almost 60 per cent from 2017 to 2022, and their non-EU counterparts by about 30 per cent, according to agency figures.

But that positive trend could be threatened by shortages of student housing nationwide, with a 20 August ministry analysis finding that the country currently has a shortfall of almost 30,000 places in purpose-built student accommodation.

“Dublin was always the place you were going to struggle to get accommodation, but it’s become much more widespread,” Emma Monahan, vice-president of Dublin City University Student Union, told Times Higher Education.

Ms Monahan is fielding an onslaught of enquiries from desperate domestic and international students, most of whom she directs to the studentpad platform, which the union is helping to fill with listings of off-campus housing. At the end of August there were roughly 1,200 students on it chasing about 180 rooms.

The union is busy recruiting more landlords to offer rooms – and the government offers a Rent-a-Room scheme allowing them to earn up to €14,000 (£12,000) before paying tax.

But such carrots only go so far when rents outstrip incomes for most. A 2022 survey by Eurostudent found that the average spend on accommodation in Ireland was €469 per month, against an average student income of €1,122, roughly €200 less than their overall costs. As a result, a third of students faced “serious” or “very serious” financial problems, the survey found.

EU students have started coming to Dublin early to continue their accommodation search, Ms Monahan said, with PhD students needing childcare nearby facing particularly complex searches. “That’s something I don’t even know how to respond to, because when it comes to studentpad, you’ll usually have an elderly person renting out a spare room, thinking they'll get a bit of company out of it,” she said.

One option the ministry is considering is a €440,000 emergency fund to cover the cost of hotel stays while students look for something more permanent. But the rising cost of construction materials means building something more permanent, say a single en-suite room in a Dublin student hall, would cost more than €200,000.

A spokesperson at Trinity College Dublin told THE that private sector accommodation was selling out before course offers had even gone out and that the shortfall was limiting international student growth.

Things are tough away from the city too. Last year local media reported cases of German and French students at the University of Galway and Atlantic Technological University living in tents because of a lack of housing.

University international offices often have disclaimers encouraging new students to start searching early for accommodation and the Trinity spokesperson said their recruitment webinars include warnings, but Ms Monahan said institutions could still be more upfront about just how difficult things can be.

“That is something I do get a lot of messages about – that there hasn’t been any warning, whether it’s from the government or from the universities. I think people are being left in the dark a bit, especially international students.”

Ireland’s student numbers are due to peak around 2030, according to conservative ministry projections, but building and incentive schemes may have to ramp up faster to keep pace.

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com