Research, insight & updates

To celebrate four years of Accommodation Matters, we took the show on the road to GSL Live and recorded a live episode! Join host Jenny Shaw for a lively panel discussion about designing community within student accommodation – including how the physical design can support community-building, the role of accommodation teams, whether themed accommodation works, and how to measure the success of community-building events.

At the 2024 Living Black at University conference, the sector shared what they’ve done to improve Black students’ living experience as a result of our research. Here’s what they’re doing, and what we’re doing.

With this year's first years arriving at university, this short podcast looks at what we know about the class of 2024 from the latest Applicant Index.

In 2022, Unite Students set up a sector-wide commission to activate the recommendations of our Living Black at University report, which explored students’ experience in UK student accommodation. With the Commission now in its second phase and run in partnership with CUBO, we caught up with the new Commission chair, Carol Thomas.

Students’ digital needs have changed since our app first launched in 2013. We’ve created a new app to better meet those needs and enrich our residents’ stay with us.

Driven by our research and student insight, we've prepared our best student welcome programme yet for the 2024/25 academic year.

In our latest podcast episode, we look at new initiatives to improve students' university experience in their accommodation for 2024/25.

We caught up with Jenni Brooks about how learning, development and belonging helps our teams to deliver a great student experience.

Led by Unite Students in partnership with CUBO (College and University Business Officers), the Living Black at University Commission is hosting its second conference in Canterbury on Tuesday 8th October. Here’s what you need to know.

Student needs are constantly evolving. Here’s how we’re improving our student support and resident experience offer for 2024/25.

Our User Experience (UX) Design Industrial Placement Student, Jack Pearce, shares more about his experience on our Early Careers programme, during his time studying Graphic Design at Portsmouth University, and why it’s important for companies to offer paid work experience opportunities to students and young people.

Whether it’s giving our residents the information they need before they arrive or sharing updates throughout their time living with Unite Students, our Customer Communications function plays a vital role in keeping students informed and engaged.

Accommodation Matters host Jenny Shaw recently collaborated with experts from across the Higher Education sector to bring together a very special podcast episode.

Every year, Unite Students surveys university applicants for our Applicant Index. And every year, we’re surprised by the differences between applicant cohorts. If you want to be prepared for the first year students who will arrive into your city in the autumn, you won’t want to miss this episode – or the report that spawned it.

The Unite Students Applicant Index is the only research that tracks university applicants’ attitudes and confidence levels year on year, giving you the information you need to prepare for their arrival in autumn. The 2024 report is out now. So, here’s everything you need to know about the Applicant Index - and seven things you’ll want to know about this year’s incoming student cohort.

Joe Lister, Unite Students’ Chief Executive, shares his thoughts on our 2024 Applicant Index report – and how he’s seen some of the findings play out within his own family.

Jenny Shaw looks at Universities UK's recent drugs guidance for Higher Education, and what student accommodation teams should know about it.

New to the sector but with a wealth of experience in operations, Jay Khan - our new Head of Operations for London - talks us through his first impressions of the Higher Education sector, how his past experience has brought him to purpose-built student accommodation and how he plans to create a culture of excellence in our buildings.

Political decisions can reshape the whole Higher Education landscape. So we enlisted an expert panel and host Jenny Shaw to tell us exactly what the 2024 UK General Election might mean for Higher Education, students and student accommodation in a special General Election podcast episode.

Kirstie Reynolds, a University of Edinburgh and University of Strathclyde graduate, knew architecture was for her as it was a great opportunity to use her creative and logical attributes.

Unite Students is delighted to celebrate its 25th anniversary year as a listed company.

Last week, Jenny Shaw (HE External Engagement Director) was out and about at sector conferences including HEPI’s Annual Conference, with its focus on the forthcoming General Election. If you couldn’t make it to the event, here are Jenny’s three event takeaways for student accommodation.

Partnered with more than 60 universities across the UK, Unite Students prides itself on strong relationships with the Higher Education sector. So, we’re delighted to introduce Will White as our new Higher Education Engagement Director. Here, Will shares why he took the role after five years working as a Head of Operations, his priorities for 2024 and his experience of how Higher Education policy challenges play out for students on the ground.

Schools and sixth form colleges play an important role in helping students to have a smooth transition to university. In our latest report, Improving the Transition to University, representatives from secondary education spoke about how school data and support plans could be better used to support vulnerable students at university.  Wayne Templeman, Director of Sixth Form at St Bonaventure’s, London, shares his reflections on the transition to university, the connection between schools and students, and what schools and colleges want to see in improving the university transition. 

We spoke to Serena Ferris, Resident Experience Programmes Manager, about what it takes to create a great student experience in accommodation.

All of our front line teams have a role to play in supporting our residents – but when they need help with more complex cases, they can turn to our regional Student Support teams.  We spoke to Martin McKendley, Regional Student Support Officer for London, about what a typical day looks like in his role, how he works with our teams and university partners to support students, and his favourite thing about working at Unite Students. 

More and more students are seeking support for their mental health, and in response, we’ve seen a whole host of new initiatives to better meet that need. But what are these initiatives, where have they come from and what do student accommodation teams need to know? We’re getting into it in this month’s episode of Accommodation Matters. 

Our latest report ‘Improving the Transition to Higher Education’ is a joint initiative between Unite Students and the Higher Education Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck. Based on a series of expert roundtables and individual interviews, together with desk research and sector case studies, it draws together key challenges and recommendations for schools, colleges and universities. Co-author Jenny Shaw takes a look at some of the implications for student accommodation.

We’re proud of all our city teams and how they deliver a great student experience – but in 2023, it was our Birmingham South team who scooped our internal Teamwork award. We spoke to Mitchell Fellows (General Manager), Dan Ruscoe (Student Experience Manager) and Nardi Kinson (Student Experience Team Leader) to find out how they work together, what makes them an award-winning team and what they love about working in the Birmingham South team.

We are delighted to announce that the next stage of the Living Black at University Commission will be jointly led by Unite Students and CUBO (College and University Business Officers), as we look to continue the Commission’s work on supporting equity, inclusion and belonging in student accommodation and beyond.

In our latest episode of Accommodation Matters, we get to grips with the student accommodation supply/demand problem - and how we can solve it.

By students, for students - our Resident Ambassador programme helps students to build a community in our buildings while being paid for their time and effort. Heather Hunter, Resident Experience Programmes Officer, shares how we enhanced the scheme for this academic year, some of the events our Ambassadors have run across the UK this year, and how we’re tweaking the programme for 2024/25 to make it even better.

At Unite Students, we talk a lot about sustainability. But what do our actions mean in a wider context, what are we aiming for, and what have we achieved so far? We’ve laid it all out in our first annual sustainability report – available to download now.

Q&A with Joe Lister, Chief Executive Officer & Mike Burt, Chief Financial Officer

Karan leads the operational and commercial functions for Unite Students, working with his team to enhance the student experience, deliver commercial performance and raise brand awareness.

As the first purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) provider to offer a student support service, Unite Students is constantly looking to evolve its student wellbeing offer. New for 2023/24, our Student Assistance Programme bolsters our provision of round-the-clock support. Here, we outline what the programme includes, how it has benefited our residents, and what we’ve learned since launch.

The 2023 Student Academic Experience Survey showed that 1 in 4 students feels lonely most or all of the time – and that number is growing. With loneliness carrying the same health risks as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and having a substantial impact on mental health, academic performance and student retention, this month we’re asking: how can Higher Education end student loneliness?

Student safety is of the utmost importance at Unite Students. Our Birmingham North team’s focus on safety was recognised at our Stars Awards in November, picking up three awards. We caught up with Davinder Sanghera, General Manager, and Dean Ditta, Student Safety Manager (Nights), about their award-winning safety approach. 

Our three Regional Student Support Managers advise our frontline teams on complex support cases, work with university partners to provide a joined-up support process for students and help to develop our staff training. For University Mental Health Day, we spoke to Ami-Rose, Luke and Jenny to find out how they got into student support, what they want to achieve in 2024, and what issues they think need more focus in student support.

Bernadette Cochonat, Head of International Sales and Partnerships at Unite Students, first developed a Chinese cultural awareness workshop for our teams in 2017 – since then, she’s run more than 100 sessions. Here, she tells us about her workshops: why she created them, some of the insights she shares with our teams, and what’s next for the programme.