Last autumn, students at third-level Irish institutions flocked to college campuses, some for the first time.
Many faced difficulty as they tried to secure accommodation in what has become an overly competitive market due to the housing crisis.
I was lucky as I had recently secured my own place.
However, I couldn’t help but wonder: what role was I personally playing at a micro level with regards to the housing crisis, which is a macro issue?
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I am in Ireland as a PhD researcher, and while I earned my place here, there are undeniably some people who would benefit from having occupied the rooms and resources that I have used since moving here.
Am I part of or contributing to the problem? There is no easy or clear answer to the problem. Some would blame neoliberalism; some would say that the Government is not building enough social housing or doing enough to regulate the housing market; some would blame Airbnb and vulture investors who are turning Ireland into a tourist attraction rather than maintaining its authenticity as a place where normal people live and work.
There are smatterings of truth in all of these conclusions, but there is another factor that one must consider in an honest appraisal of the situation, and that is the fact that Ireland, as in the UK and the US, has been exploiting international students and charging exorbitant fees for tuition, as well as the residence permit.
At one point in the US, undergraduate students were the bread and butter of universities, but now, another source of that butter is the international student market.
Universities are able to bank on offering what may be a false promise to people from other parts of the world: that if they come and study at their institution, they may have a higher chance of getting a well-paying job, of working in Europe, and/or of settling here.
Of course, the reality is far more complex than this, and people choose to study in western European and US institutions for different reasons. But on the ground, people are literally queuing to view a room for €1000 per month in parts of Dublin, and landlords are installing bunk beds to overcharge international students for shared rooms in Galway.
We can no longer deny that universities are seeking to recruit students from abroad to charge exorbitant fees in the midst of a housing crisis.
This behaviour is ethically, morally, and (potentially) legally dubious.
It is time for the government to step in and scrutinise and potentially regulate the practices and policies of universities, particularly considering the pressure that international students are experiencing while looking for housing and the pressure that the influx of international students is adding to the housing market.
The government should act in the best interests of the home people and international students and should consider the fact that some students are literally returning home after being unable to secure accommodation.
The government should also scrutinise the charges that universities – and landlords – are charging international students for studying in the country.
I have been an international student at four universities, and know what it is to be exploited for hiked-up tuition fees, which is arguably a honeypot of undue/unjust enrichment for universities and for landlords alike.
It is time for the government of Ireland – and those of the UK and the Netherlands, among others – to reign in universities and to create strict laws that regulate their operation, ranging from international student recruitment to housing, to international student fees.
The sky is not the limit.
