Empty rooms and new applications, in the same city
A councillor has questioned a new student accommodation development in Durham on the grounds that existing rooms sit unused. It is the counter-argument to every shortage story this year, and both can be true at once: purpose-built rooms at the top of the market go unfilled while affordable ones do not exist. The question for students is price, not supply. Finding student housing covers the choice.
Quality assurance built for a stable sector that no longer exists
A researcher argues that quality assurance systems were designed for institutions that grow slowly and change little, and that they cope badly with mergers, closures and courses taught by partners. It is the framework question underneath this year’s franchising rules and the new condition of registration.