AUT Pushes Back Against Inquiry Into Student Accommodation By Justin Hu (he/him)
“AUT has had a very low number of student accommodation beds. We're
AUT vice-chancellor Derek McCormack
have 709 accommodation beds [...]
accommodation that the uni does not
I’d like to emphasize the importance
believe the sector needs major reform.
of understanding the very variable
In a written submission to the parliamentary inquiry, the university told MPs that it disagreed with the premise on which the inquiry had been based upon. It added that the university believed “the vast majority of students thoroughly enjoy their hostel experiences.” Oral submissions were heard by Parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee in March, including dozens from ex-hall residents and student groups who were heavily critical of the existing system. MPs also heard submissions from universities and accommodation providers, who were largely in support of the status quo, including McCormack. The inquiry was launched following perceived student mistreatment amid
approach by universities to providing student accommodation,” said McCormack. “The idea that there is disparate treatment assumes that all the accommodation should be consistent, that the standards should be the same, that the services should be the same, I think that’s problematic. The committee needs to consider that student accommodation needs to cover a range of cases,” McCormack continued. Submissions by the New Zealand Union of Students' Associations (NZUSA) and five other uni student associations emphasised that the groups believed students entered into an industry without sufficient regulation. “The system for student accommodation
last year’s level four lockdown. In oral
in Aotearoa New Zealand is broken.
questioning, the VC retrospectively said
The lack of regulation and protection
the industry had been “flying blind” with
for students means that the system
inconsistent approaches at different
has become out of control,” the NZUSA
universities.
authored in its written submission.
Speaking on AUT’s position via Zoom,
6
the second biggest university, but only
has told an inquiry into student
“Student accommodation has been
McCormack generally focused his
treated by providers for the last decade,
oral submission on conveying that the
as a cash cow, as a way to make money
university’s scale of accommodation was
out of students,” said NZUSA’s president
smaller and different to other universities.
Andrew Lessells.
