Singapore — International students of NTU, and their parents, started a petition on Thursday (Jul 1) after they were informed that they failed to secure accommodation on campus for the coming academic year.
The students who were not able to secure on-campus accommodation were told to vacate their current rooms by Jul 15. They will be charged for overstaying if they fail to do so and belongings not cleared in time will be removed so that the university can prepare for the new resident of the room.
In an email to students, NTU explained to rejected applicants that there is a limit to the number of students who can stay in the halls as “imposed by authorities”, an article by Mothership reported.
“Fewer rooms are available because of the need to reserve a certain number for Covid-19 isolation and other related purposes,” the email signed off by one unnamed Housing Executive at the Office of Campus Housing wrote.
The email advised those who do not have a local residence to arrange alternative accommodation themselves and provided the contacts of three off-campus housing options.
One of the three options listed includes hotels and hostels, where students are directed to use third-party platforms like Agoda, Booking and Trivago.
A petition on change.org by one Blue Knight received 3,698 signatures in seven hours.
The petition stated that “After delaying Hall (Hostel) allocation results, the Nanyang Technological University has failed to allocate students who rightfully deserve housing allocation in the upcoming Academic Year of 2021/22. This is issue has caused a large uproar within the student body”.
It added that students who were due to be allocated on-campus housing were international students, Year 2 Students who are guaranteed two years of Hall stay, those who have achieved the highest Extra-Curricular Activity point allocation, students who were on the recommendation lists to represent their halls and students who have performed vital roles in their respective ECAs and Hall activities with the promise of a return the following year.
A parent of an international student who signed the petition said that her son had not come home to India for the past 18 months because of the pandemic. She added that a two-week notice period was very short and asked how NTU can “expect students to relocate so quickly in a foreign country”.
Others said that the students deserved to stay in the hostel. Many felt that backpacking hostels were expensive, and added that “In times of a global pandemic, paying normal school fees for inaccessible facilities, online lessons, and capped resources is already financially handicapping for many”.
/TISG