Accommodations Issues at James Cooper University in Queensland - Case Study Example

A REPORT ON ACCOMMODATIONS ISSUES AT JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY: THE ON-CAMPUS AND OFF-CAMPUS OPTIONS AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 20, 2009 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL KGB Consultancy is pleased to present to you this report on the accommodation issues at and accommodation options available in the Townsville Campus of James Cooper University. There are various accommodation issues affecting students in the University’s campus as well as options for students to choose their preferred accommodation arrangements. The University has no capacity to fully meet all the accommodation requirements of its students creating an opportunity for private real estate developer to exploit. This report examines these issues and options at James Cooper University to provide factual and relevant information to a real estate developer wishing to establish a student residential complex. The information would aid the company in positioning its investment so that it is competitive (Matarazzo & Connolly, 199). The feasibility of the complex is determined by its competitiveness in terms of cost of rent, quality of houses, and satisfaction to students requirements. The limitations on availability of data did not prevent interpretation of important occurrences at the University campus. The report will also be useful to anyone whishing to understand accommodation issues at James Cooper University. TABLE OF CONTENTS LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 INTRODUCTION 7 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 8 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION 10 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 15 APPENDIX 18 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report examines accommodations issues at James Cooper University in Queensland, Australia with the aim of providing useful information to a real estate developer. The developer is interested in constructing a student accommodation complex adjacent to the University. The scope of this study is the Townville Campus and its environs where both off-campus and on-campus accommodation options are explored. The University has several accommodation issues that should be investigated to give an understanding of students accommodation needs. A questionnaire and various secondary sources have been used to obtain the data. The findings indicate that the University has a large population of about ten thousand students, which is a substantial number to an investor. It should be known that more students opt for off-campus accommodation as opposed to on-campus accommodation. This may be due to the limited options and the high cost of renting the accommodation facilities within the University. Additionally, more students prefer full-board accommodation and single occupancy for on-campus arrangements, a preference that is not indicative on the actual situation on the ground. In fact, more students have opted for self-catering arrangements and shared occupancy. The cost factor and limited options still dictate this scenario; that is students would want to share rooms to cut on accommodation costs or the available options do not meet the requirements of many students. Off-campus students have the advantage to choose among various house types and sizes in Townville besides the options for on-campus accommodations. Other issues that the real estate developer ought to consider include legal factors and student protection by law, disabilities issues, safety and security of student accommodation. Most students feel safe and secure within University premises. The accommodation options available reflects on the cost of living in these facilities. On-campus facilities are more expensive than off-campus accommodation. Moreover, the more diverse services are, the more cost the cost of accommodation. Full-board accommodation costs more than self-catering accommodation arrangements. In addition, a three bedroom house will cost more than a one bedroom house and son on. These facts leads us to deduce that there is an unexploited opportunity on student accommodation in Townville. The fact that more students prefer certain accommodation arrangements, yet they have not subscribed to it points to the need to fill that gap. Furthermore, the University plans to expand its accommodation capacity shows the need for accommodation facilities in Townville. It would be feasible for the real estate developer to construct the student accommodation complex given that there is high demand that has not been met. The things to consider, however, are the cost of renting and provision of the appropriate facilities. INTRODUCTION James Cook University (JCU), one of the premier universities in both Queensland and Australia, has accommodation issues that are of importance to the students. Its main campuses are situated in Townsville and Cairns. The Townsville campus, of which this study is be based, has about ten thousands students, out of which about 1,500 are international students. The fact that these students require convenient and reliable place to stay while studying makes it necessary to look into issues of accommodation. This is important to students as well as real estate developers. Although the university has the responsibility to provide accommodation to students, it may not fully meet their preferences. This therefore provides an investment opportunity to real estate developers. On that regard, this report examines the accommodation issues at Townville campus and looks at the options available for the students both on-campus and off-campus. The purpose is to furnish a real estate developer with sufficient and factual information to allow the company make plans and decisions on the kind of accommodation facility to build for the students. The report therefore explores these issues and options by recording down students response and secondary information, and providing a brief discussion on these findings before making recommendation to the real estate developer on the way forward. BACKGROUND INFORMATION James Cook University (JCU) is one of the premier universities in Australia. One of its main campus, Douglas Campus, is situated on a 386 –hectare land in Pimlico suburb of Townville (James Cook University, 2009). Accommodation issues are diverse just as there are many options for accommodations. The University offers its own accommodation to student but there are limitations. The capacity for on-campus accommodation at the Douglas or Townville Campus is only 1,400 students (James Cook University, 2009). These include both on-board and self-catering accommodation options. Full meals are provided with on-board arrangements while in self-catering students provide for their own meals and are allowed to cook for themselves. It is worth to note that out of the total population of about 10,000 student only 1,200 students prefer to stay in the University accommodation facilities in any given academic year (James Cook University, 2009). Many students have opted for private or off-campus accommodations that are sometimes better than the campus residence in terms of meeting the students accommodation needs (International Development Program of Australian Universities and College, 1994). . The high preference for off-campus accommodation may be due to several reasons. One is the high cost of renting the University’s residential halls. Although on-campus accommodation is more safe, it is more costly than off-campus accommodation. Furthermore, campus residential halls are limited in terms of meeting various students requirement. For instance, married students often do no find the on-campus accommodation to be appealing to them. Sometimes, a student’s family may be too big to be comfortable in the University residential halls. There also the issue of privacy. Off-campus residence offer more privacy than on-campus accommodations. Private accommodation also offers the advantage of choosing among various types and sizes of houses with different number of rooms. Some students also choose to commute to the University given the close proximity to their homes or their ability to do so. It is worth to note that although many students would prefer full-board accommodation arrangements, they have not have not chosen that options. This may be due to the cost involved and the quality of service provided. There are other issues that a real estate developer must consider before building student accommodation facilities. These include legal factors, safety and security of students, the type of students, and disability issues. Legal factors involve contracts and renting agreement, while safety and security touches on issues such as protection from sexual harassment, theft of properties and fire safety. Students wants to stay in a place where they feel safe and secure. International students are obligated to provide additional identification documents and sometimes pay more for their accommodation than resident students. Students with disability require specialised services such as those that aid in their movement. In addition, these students are protected by the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1991 and Disability Services Act of 2006 (James Cooper University, 2009). FINDINGS & DISCUSSION Findings The findings of this report are derived from both primary and secondary research on individual students, the University database and website, and various publications. Students were interviewed and filled questionnaires about their accommodation preferences. The results of the 100 correspondents are presented in table 1 below. Table 1. Students preferences for and the actual situation on accommodation arrangements Percentage (Preference) Percentage (Actual) On-campus residence Full-board 66 40 Self-catering 34 60 Shared housing 15 78 Single occupant 85 22 Off-campus (private) residence Full-board 65 40 Self-catering 35 60 Shared housing 15 20 Single occupant 85 80 One bedroom 55 - Two bedrooms 25 - Three bedrooms 15 - More than three bedrooms 5 - The table summarises results of the kind of accommodation that students in Townsville campus of James Cooper University would want. These include their preferences on whether to stay in campus houses or in private residence, in full-board or self-catering arrangements, shared or single occupancy, and the number of rooms preferred for off-campus accommodation. The actual percentage represent the number of people interviewed out of the sample of 100 people. The dashes in the table shows that data was not available. a) prefer b) actual Figure 1. Pie charts on off-campus and on-campus accommodation a) prefer b) actual Figure 2. Pie charts on full-board and self-catering accommodation arrangements Figure 4. Pie charts of off-campus students need on number of rooms Pie chart a in figure 2 shows the percentage of students that prefer off-campus and on-campus accommodation while chart b shows the actual percentage. There are more students that have private accommodation than those who live in the Universities halls of residence. Figure 2 illustrates full-board and self-catering accommodation arrangements. More people prefer full board arrangement as opposed to self-catering but the actual situation is the opposite. In figure 4, the graph indicates that a high percentage of students need a one bedroom house, while very few people require a house with more than three rooms. The results of the investigation from secondary sources are listed in table two to four. Table 2. Population and accommodation details in Townsville campus Item Percentage or number Student Population (in Townsville campus) 10,497 Accommodation capacity in Townsville 1,400 Student with on-campus accommodation arrangements 1200 Number of international on a 6-month stay per year 500 International students attending Townville campus 1500 Full-time students (percentage) 70% Part-time students (percentage) 30% The table above (table 2) shows the average number of students (student population) in the Townsville campus at any given academic year. The number of off-campus students is the difference between the total student population and the number of student in living in university accommodation facilities, which is 9,097 students. About 1500 international students are attending the Townsville campus at any given academic year time, of which about 500 students are scheduled for a six-month period. Only 30% of all the students in Townsville campus are part-time while the rest are on full-time basis. Table 3. Fees for on-campus and off-campus accommodation arrangements On-campus Amount (Fee) Off-campus Amount (Fee) Full-board $215 – $327 per week Full-board $180 – $250 per week Self-catering $152 – $275 per week Self-catering $120 – $200 per week Shared $180 - $220 per week Shared $80 – $120 per week The university allows students to choose between full-board and self-catered accommodation arrangements. For full-board students are provided with meals while in self-catering arrangements students are allowed to cook in the halls. The costs reflects the services offered where full-board accommodation is more expensive than self-catering accommodation. Figure 3. A graph showing the highest fee for off-campus and on-campus accommodation The graph shows that on-campus is more expensive than off-campus accommodation when the highest prices of three alternatives of accommodation are compared. The prices varies however as shown in table two depending on the size and/or number of rooms. The options available in on-campus arrangements include full-board, shared housing and self-catering in both on-campus and off-campus accommodation. For, off-campus or private accommodation, these alternatives allows students to choose a house with the number of rooms they want. Mostly, students prefer one to three bed-roomed houses. Their prices are shown in table 3 below. Table 4. Cost of houses in Townsville according to the number of rooms Type of house amount of rent One room $80 -$120 per week Two $150 - $180 per week Three $ 200 - $250 per week Four $ 300 - $320 per week There are several types of houses available in Townsville and Thuringowa. The table above shows the range of prices for one, two and three bedroom houses. These houses may include apartments or flats, granny flats, or townhouses. However, the price is more or less the same for these kinds of houses, and only differentiated by the number of rooms and quality of the house. There are other issues that a real estate developer must consider before building student accommodation facilities. These include legal factors, safety and security of students, the type of students, and disability issues. Legal factors involve contracts and renting agreement, while safety and security touches on issues such as protection from sexual harassment, theft of properties and fire safety. Students wants to stay in a place where they feel safe and secure. International students are obligated to provide additional identification documents and sometimes pay more for their accommodation than resident students. Students with disability require specialised services such as those that aid in their movement. In addition, these students are protected by the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1991 and Disability Services Act of 2006 (James Cooper University, 2009). Discussions The findings above have very significant indications on accommodation options and issues in James Cook University, Townsville campus. Students generally opt for off-campus residence as opposed to on-campus accommodations. This is shown by the low number of student using University accommodation facilities (12%). However, this may be due to various reasons such as high rent and limited options for students. As the data highlights , many students (66%) would prefer full-board accommodation to self-catering option for accommodation, but the actual figures for those living under full-board arrangements is far too low at 40%. More students share accommodation in university facilities, while in off-campus accommodations more students stay as single occupant. Interestingly, many students living in the University would prefer to stay as single occupants. This also indicates that factors such as cost influence the decisions that students make. It is worth to note that the student’s family members or friends do not affect the single or shared status. The results also indicate the viability of establishing the student accommodation complex. The population of student is large enough to create demand for such a facility. Moreover, most of the available off-campus accommodation are very expensive and many lack that setting that facilitate students activities such as clubs activities and discussions. The University also reckons that there is need to build more accommodation facilities, but faces limitation in terms of resources. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The report has examined accommodation issues and accommodation options available at James Cooper University’s Townville Campus. The information is important for the real estate developer in planning and deciding on establishing a student accommodation complex. Data was collected from students respondents through questionnaires as well as from secondary sources including the University website. The revelation was that more students stay off-campus as opposed to on-campus. This is mainly due to limited accommodation options in for the University facilities. Student’s preference do not always reflect the actual situations. More students would prefer on-board accommodation arrangements but not many have subscribed to that, a scenario that can be explained by the cost factor. Additionally, students would prefer single occupancy to shared accommodation. The large student populations is a very significant advantage to the feasibility of establishing the student accommodation complex. The presence of international students the University further strengthens the need to have provide more accommodation options. Issues such as disability, rent agreements, protection of students by legislation, and safety are also important for the developer to consider. All these factors combined should guide the developer into deciding on the way forward in regards to constructing a student accommodation complex. Basing on the facts reported in this document, the real estate developer should go ahead with the plans to construct the accommodation facility. This is backed by the fact that there is great demand for student accommodation, yet the available services have not fully satisfied the market. However, there is need to emphasize on meeting students needs and providing quality services above what is currently available. REFERENCES James Cook University 2009, Discover James Cook University: JCU Accommodation- Application, . James Cooper University (2009): A guide to rental properties, viewed on 19 September 2009 from http://www.jcu.edu.au/accommodation/tsvinternational/JCUDEV_003189.html. International Development Program of Australian Universities and College. (1994): Australian universities, Australia International Development Program of Australian University and Colleges, Australia. Matarazzo, J. M. & Connolly, S. D. (1999): Knowledge and special libraries, Elsevier, United Kingdom. James Cooper University. (2009): Accommodation, viewed on 19 September 2009 from http://cms.jcu.edu.au/study/money/living/JCUPRD_044909. APPENDIX Questionnaire and Interview Questions on student accommodation preference A. If you were living in the University accommodation facilities, what do you prefer in the options below: i. Full-board accommodation or Self-catered accommodation ii. Single occupancy or shared accommodation B. If you had were to had private accommodation arrangements, what do you prefer in the options below: i. Full-board accommodation or Self-catered accommodation ii. Single occupancy or shared accommodation iii. One bedroom house, three bedrooms house, three bedrooms house, or mor than three bedrooms iv. The type of house among a flat, apartment, granny flat, and town house Read More