If you scanned the news over the summer for any mention of students there’s been a lot in local papers about rubbish left in student areas as they moved out.
If you’re keeping an eye on the news over the next few weeks, it’s likely we’ll see some local newspaper talking about loud and rowdy students over welcome and freshers’ weeks.
In August students receive positive messages about their A Level results, and that they should “celebrate all of your hard work.” By September when they move into halls and get onto campus, they’re told they’re too loud, disrupting the city and are made to feel unwelcome. It’s a bit of a whiplash.
Many of the conversations I’ve had in taxis on my way to visit universities and students’ unions over the summer have been about “when are students coming back?” They say it’s so quiet without students on campus, the city looks different, their trade has significantly decreased, and they have much less interesting taxi conversations.
Despite what a lot of the local press says, there is a large proportion of the community who are pleased that students are in the city for the positive economic, social and civic impact they have. Students have a huge positive impact in their cities and towns, but these aren’t the messages they or the sector often hears.
Town and gown
Students care about how they get to campus and around their city, why there is mould in their house, where is affordable student housing, getting part time work and how to access health services. For many they want to make that city their home either for one, three or more years, many after they graduate.
But towns and cities they live and study in sometimes, not always, adopt a “town versus gown” narrative whereby the “town” refers to the non-academic population and the “gown” are the university community or students. And students feel it – even if they’re commuters.
The tension is often about the studentification of cities – where locals are displaced by students, single family homes are converted into houses of multiple occupancies, and there is disruptive behaviour, rubbish and partying in the night time economy which frustrates locals.
One article from Birmingham Live – entitled “Fed-up Selly Oak locals say town turned into ‘rubbish pit’ by students who ‘just don’t care’” – quoted a former student turned Birmingham resident:
They don’t care because they won’t be living there tomorrow and that shows how they view their temporary community around them.
The phrase “temporary community” stands out. Students’ place and space is temporal and as such some care less about how they leave the space because they’re doing exactly that, leaving and don’t feel connected or that they belong to that community.
If students don’t feel like citizens in the town or city they live and study in, they’re less likely to be active citizens while they’re there, speak fondly of their experience and importantly stay after graduating.
It’s impossible to draw a causal link between the community relations and their connection to their city to staying in that city after graduating – but it may certainly contribute to it.
Studenomics
Where can universities start? The first is to start changing the culture. Some universities have put more resources into students volunteering, to showcase the positive impact students have in their community – and counter the town versus gown framing.
If you look at the economic impact, there’s data to show the economic benefit of international students to the UK rose from £31.3bn to £41.9bn between 2018–19 and 2021–22. The average net benefit for each of the UK’s 650 constituencies is £58m which is £560 per citizen.
More students are working. UCLan’s research on students who are working in their business school showed a large percentage are working in health and social care, supporting the local community.
Students volunteer and work across their community, often on placements, internships or schemes that have a civic and social impact. In an article from the BBC in August, the headline was “Student volunteers donate 70,000 hours in a year.” More than 1,500 students volunteered for an average of four hours per month, gardening, dog walking and helping to tidy up areas.
These stories are often not heard in the same way as the sensationalist “Smelly Oak.” And yet these students are likely to feel most connected to their community and place.
Let’s get civic-al
Celebrating the economic, social and civic impact students have in their towns and cities is one step. What else can universities do to make students feel like citizens, not tourists?
The Civic University Network, UPP Foundation and Sheffield Hallam University released their Enhancing the student civic experience report in June which has a lot of answers about building active citizens at universities which would in turn make them feel more like they belong in these cities.
It recommends supporting democratic participation, compulsory electoral registration, on-campus surgeries and hustings. The more students are part of politics and involved in decision making processes in their town and city, the more they can shape services they rely on such as infrastructure, transport, health and housing.
Projects like the Greater Manchester Student Partnership and Nottingham Student Partnership are both about making the cities the best place for students to live and better the lives of students in the region. They have done some brilliant work working with elected student officers and their local combined authorities on key student issues like housing and transport.
The report also recommends, where universities have them, refreshing and fully recognising the importance and values of civic university agreements.
Creating more partnership opportunities with the city or town provides students more opportunities to be involved in decision making processes for things which impact them. And the more students can shape services they rely on whilst they live and study in their city or town, the more the place works for them and treats them like citizens – and thus fosters active student citizens.
If, at some stage in this Parliament, there’s some significant devolution to regions or local authorities, it will be important to make sure that the temporary thing is tackled. We’ve seen countries required to create municipal student living strategies that help compensate for their lack of local electoral participation. That should happen here too.
The cycle of news stories about rowdy and messy students will continue to repeat itself year on year, and – yes – some will leave rubbish as do local residents, but students feeling like citizens rather than tourists does more for local economies, the community and for their professional development. One of the easiest ways to start is to simply shout about the great work they are already doing in the community, turning the narrative from rubbish and noise to celebration and success.
