University uses on-site hotel to lure seniors as students
NEW YORK: A university is now using its on-site hotel and cleaning service to lure seniors as students.
Vice-chancellor Harlene Hayne said repurposing the Exchange development, which opens later this year with high-rise apartments to cater for around 1200 students, was part of the university’s strategy for dealing with the financial ramifications of losing international students.
“We’re getting very excited about how we will be repurposing those facilities that were initially targeted for international students, who will no longer be able to study with us, to provide Australian students with a fantastic on-campus living and learning environment,” she said.
Professor Hayne said Australian students did not have a national tradition of leaving home to live on campus, though research showed that students who live on campus were happier and did better academically than those who live off campus.
“In contrast to almost every other country in the world, Australian students tend to study really close to home,” she said.
“But here at Curtin, we’re hoping that changes, because we can see internationally all the great advantages for students who choose not only a learning but a living environment.
“So the fact that we don’t have international students, or large numbers of them at this point in time, will allow us to pilot some really exciting programs for Australian students here on campus.”
The development includes St Catherine’s College, which provides a room, cleaning services and meals from around $450 a week, and the 10-storey Twin Dolphin halls of residence, offering rooms, utilities and wi-fi access for between $272 and $397 a week.
Students’ visiting family members would also be able to stay nearby, at a new on-site hotel.
Professor Hayne said there had been “considerable” interest so far, particularly from students in boarding schools.
“They’ve already made the shift away from being at home, and so that’s probably the group that’s going to be easiest to shift in the first instance,” she said. “But … in my experience, having run a university for the last 10 years that is highly residential, it won’t take long for this to catch on because the students themselves will be the best advertisement for the value of living on campus.”