Erasmus Student Network and Uniplaces join forces to overcome housing obstacle faced by international students
The European-based startup Uniplaces and the pan-European Erasmus Student Network have teamed up to improve international students’ support services by introducing an innovative solution to overcome one of the biggest barriers to student mobility: accommodation. As Europe has committed itself to increase the global competitiveness of European Higher Education, student support services have an important role to play in attracting high quality students from abroad.
Finding a place to live is not only an early step in a student’s journey, it’s one of the costliest: accommodation can represent up to 50% of students’ total living expenses. Stefan Jahnke, president of the Erasmus Student Network AISBL (ESN) says: “Throughout the years we have within ESN identified accommodation to be one of the largest obstacles to increased educational mobility. Thousands of students leave every semester worried about where they will be staying instead of being able to focus on the upcoming academic and cultural exchange. This is exactly why we’re very pleased to have entered into a long-term partnership with Uniplaces, an online accommodation provider that focuses exactly on our target group – international students. We look forward to tackle the challenge of student accommodation in Europe together and to contribute to the future increased mobility of young persons in Europe and beyond.”
Through the partnership, Uniplaces will offer affordable and safe accommodation to international students which will be promoted by the ESN network all across Europe. The partnership also involves cooperation on the UniPlaces Scholarship, a scheme that offers free housing to students worldwide, as well as an Ambassadors’ Academy, giving students professional development opportunities. ESN and Uniplaces are also planning to conduct research to identify the challenges students face, especially concerning accommodation.
Miguel Amaro co-founder of Uniplaces highlights the importance of the partnership: “At Uniplaces, we’re passionate about increasing student mobility across the globe. ESN holds very similar values. It’s obvious that there are plenty of synergies between both organisations, we share the same mission of breaking down barriers to student mobility. That makes this partnership a tremendous win-win.” ESN and Uniplaces are glad to together contribute to an ambitious project aiming at improving international and exchange students’ lives and empower mobility.
Uniplaces is a London-based startup that is creating a trusted, global brand for student accommodation. Since launching in 2013, Uniplaces became the fastest-growing international website for booking student accommodation. Uniplaces has been making the process of finding accommodation easier for students. It also provides landlords with an easy way to rent their accommodation online to students from all over the world and to benefit from higher-than-average rental yields. Uniplaces works closely with Universities and professional accommodation providers. For more information visit http://uniplaces.com
Erasmus Student Network is the biggest student organisation in Europe, founded in 1989 to support and develop student exchange. ESN is present in more than 480 Higher Education Institutions in 37 countries involving around 14,500 volunteers offering its services to 190,000 international students. ESN works for the creation of a more mobile and flexible education environment by supporting and developing student exchanges on different levels and provides an intercultural experience also to those students who cannot access a period abroad ('internationalisation at home'). For more information visit http://esn.org
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