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Uni accommodation placement - by chance or not?

Students often end up making lifelong friendships with the fellow "freshers" they find themselves placed next to in their accommodation - but what determines who lives along side each other?

BBC research using freedom of information (FOI) laws has revealed some universities have perhaps surprising policies on how rooms are allocated.

One important educational benefit of going to university is learning to mix with, and getting to know, a more diverse range of people with different life experiences. On the other hand, starting university can be a stressful event made easier if the students are surrounded by the kind of people they are familiar with, or likely to get on with.

Both are valid considerations, but they can be conflicting priorities, and different institutions resolve this dilemma in different ways.

University of Bristol
Aspires "to create diverse, balanced communities within the residences with particular reference to nationality, gender, faculty, school type". It therefore adopts a system of percentage targets for each category of residence. The university stresses it is committed to creating balanced communities to reflect the overall profile of the student population.

University of Aberdeen
"The allocation team will adopt a policy of integration regarding cultural diversity and religious beliefs."

King's College London
Seeks "to achieve, wherever possible and based on availability, a balanced mix between gender and nationality to reflect the diversity students favour".

Chichester University
Seeks to have "balanced communities" with mixed backgrounds and ages.

But there are other universities which appear to give more priority to grouping "freshers" with various similar characteristics, to ease their transition into university life. In some cases, universities ask students for considerable detail about their personalities - for example are they "reserved" or "outgoing"? What are their lifestyle preferences? This ranges from drinking and smoking, to tidiness and how early they get up. Hobbies and interests, such as music, clubbing, cookery or sport also come into play.

University of Warwick
Tries to match students with similar hobbies, on the basis that "for first-years this can break the ice and help them to settle down and feel less homesick".

University of Strathclyde
Takes matching leisure interests into account and says: "We would try to place tidy people together. We would avoid placing morning and night people together as their sleep patterns would clash."

Read the full article here

What do you think is the best way for unis to manage this?