For rent: desk space in Chinese university libraries

“Window seat available on the third floor, with sufficient light day and night.” This is not a co-working space advertisement, but from a student in China who is looking to let her desk in the university library during the upcoming summer vacation.

On Weibo, China’s social media network, several other students at Henan University of Science and Technology have made similar posts, either hoping to let or rent a seat in the library. One student replied to a post: “I have a few seats for you to choose.”

Demand for study spaces has been soaring because a growing number of graduates want their own dedicated spots to prepare for the exams they hope will win them a postgraduate place or a prized job with the civil service.

Many students secure their desk via their university’s library booking system, while others, according to reports, rent their seats from the library.

But with such places at a premium, some “seat scalpers” have sought to cash in.

A similar trade in library seats is thriving at other universities, too, often with the institutions themselves at the centre. Xinjiang Normal University listed the monthly rent price for group study rooms on a WeChat account subscribed to mainly by its students.

In a recent case that caught media attention, Sichuan Technology and Business University announced on its website – which is now removed from search results – that 30 private study rooms in the library would be made available to rent at a price of Rmb800 (£87) a year. While tuition fees at this private institution are Rmb15,600 a year, the rental charge represents a substantial fraction of annual tuition fees at public institutions, which are typically between Rmb4,000 and Rmb6,000.

Similar cases have previously been reported at Jilin Agricultural University, the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Northeast Normal University, and Changchun University of Technology.

“As education organisations for the public, universities should not only serve certain groups of people,” one scholar from Fudan University’s School of Journalism wrote in an opinion article. “They may want to go far on some creative measures, but they should not go against the principle of fairness.”

However, the author observed that there had been a shift of focus in the debate. A few years ago, discussion of this practice overwhelmingly ended with condemnation of the university libraries for pursuing commercial considerations. But now, there are supportive voices, too.

Amid the growing demand for study spaces, the idea of paying for a desk or room of one’s own has become normalised, and some students argue that they would prefer to pay for study rooms in their university libraries because the charges are much lower than they would pay elsewhere.

karen.liu@timeshighereducation.com