Brexit blamed for accommodation shortage at Warwick

Many incoming students have been left disappointed as it was recently announced that Warwick have run out of accommodation for the sixth year running.

Warwick, which was recently named the seventh best university in the UK, is suffering from a serious accommodation shortage, forcing students to share single bedrooms, or even stay in hotels.

University mismanagement means that 120 undergraduates will be sharing rooms this year, and at least 150 postgraduates are being put up in hotels for the first term.

The university has cited Brexit as a principal reason for this accommodation failure. They stated: “We expected the number of non-British EU students to fall after the referendum, but what actually happened was the number of acceptances increased.”

This year has seen a substantial rise in students accepting places through clearing, and a marked increase of postgraduate students from around the world taking up places at Warwick. These numbers could be due to students wanting to escape a potential hike in fees next year.

The university added: “We try to make the number of students match the number of rooms, but it is impossible to tell exactly how many will accept – and this year the university was more popular than ever.”

Students’ Union leaders have been quick to point out that this clearly demonstrates money being prioritised over student welfare. Nat Panda, the SU’s Postgraduate Officer, has said that despite assurances each year that this will it won’t happen again, in the following year, the “situation inevitably worsens.”

Panda added: “Not only is this situation utterly unacceptable, it is avoidable – demonstrating once again the negative effects of systemic failures within the University and the dangers of a marketised education system whereby student welfare is traded off against money in the bank.”

Westwood

Rajan Bains, who briefly shared a room in Westwood in his first year, said: “Sharing wasn’t ideal at all. There was barely space to move.

“They tell you it will only be a couple of weeks, but I know people who remained sharing their rooms well into second term.”

A university spokesperson has said: “The University of Warwick has pledged £90m towards building more accommodation for students on campus, including 267 more rooms for next year.”