Lack of housing prevents NUIG from attracting foreign students
The city’s housing shortage is hampering NUI Galway’s ability to attract more foreign students, according to senior staff.
A meeting of the Governing Body of the university has heard concerns that it was “slipping down the rankings” in terms of attracting foreign students.
One member noted that the Finance Resource Committee minutes relating to NUIG’s International Affairs Office, “revealed that NUIG is slipping down the rankings amongst universities in respect of attracting foreign students”.
This member pointed out that staff at University College Cork, “attended over 40 trade fairs and wondered if there is a reason why NUIG was not similarly geared up for this level of marketing”.
Bursar Mary Dooley said that this year was “unusual” and “one of the big restrictive issues arising is availability of accommodation for students”.
“However, with the prospect of additional accommodation being made available she was hopeful that international student number levels could be recovered and even increased,” the minutes state.
Another member pointed out that other Irish universities had set up student recruitment offices in American cities.
NUIG President, James Browne, said there was a “trend away” from attracting junior year abroad students from the US, and that some of the Dublin universities “are now actively seeking to recruit students for four years degree programmes”.
According to the minutes, Dr Browne “felt that obtaining a foothold in this market would be challenging given the cultural differences between Ireland and the US but that NUIG would maintain a watching brief in relation to any developments which may be of advantage to the university”.
At the February meeting, the Governing Body gave approval to NUIG to borrow €60 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) subject to contracts and covenants.
At the following April meeting, the Chairman of the Finance and Resource Committee told members that he expected the contract to be signed “imminently” in respect of the loan from the EIB for “new student accommodation”.
It is understood that part of the money will be used to fund its plans for a 430-bed student accommodation on campus.
Minutes of the meetings were released to this newspaper under Freedom of Information (FOI).
Figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) show that average rents in Galway City are up 15% on a year ago. At the end of March this year, monthly rents averaged €1,233 in the city, while aread such as Woodquay, Newcastle and Bohermore are the most expensive locations in which to rent.
Separate figures from property website Daft.ie show that rents in private accommodation here are now at a record high – up 51.2% from their lowest point in early 2012.
Average rents are also almost one-fifth (17.8%) higher than Galway’s previous rent peak, the ‘Celtic Tiger’ high in 2008.