Digs Welcomes International Students

The Association for Student Residential Accommodation (ASRA) held their annual conference from Sunday April 1st until April 4th, but they are certainly no fool. Set up to support and promotion of our sector and allow us to network, consult with industry professionals and develop our market, together.

This year the SSAM team attended as exhibitors, flying the flag for the DIGS experience and what South Street offers to clients and students as a whole. The underlying theme of the conference was ‘It’s All About The Experience”, about making the industry much more than just accommodation but a lifestyle choice for students.

As our main ethos has always been to instill a sense of community, a home from home, for all our residents to feel part of something made this theme seem like it was almost tailored to fit us perfectly.

We attended with one main aim, to widen SSAM’s horizons and to shout loud and clear about the waves we’ve been making. We discussed with delegates the powers we’ve discovered in social media, the success we’ve had nurturing our community, our ‘green’ philosophy and how we’ve made all this a benefit to our investors.

A whole host of our partners were also in attendance, including Occam Systems, ASK4, Keycom and Endsleigh Insurance giving us the chance to all be in the same place at the same time and vouching for our blossoming industry together.

Of course no exhibition could be without a social aspect and ASRA 12 put on some fantastic events for all the delegates and exhibitors to enjoy whilst sharing their stories and experiences. Treated to a night with a performance from The Coultures, comedian Sean Walsh, an evening trip to Coventry Cathedral, a wonderful night out at a museum with dinner and finally, a spectacular gala night with a masquerade ball. A perfect end to a very informative, opportunity filled few days!

Thanks go to Warwick University where ASRA 12 was held, a lovely campus, welcoming and well equipped.

We must also say congratulations to Deborah Carter from the University of Coventry who won our competition to bag themselves an iPad – Enjoy!

Many thanks to ASRA 12 and we look forward to the next one!

As part of our commitment to being a green business, we recently went to “zero landfill” at our Huddersfield and Sheffield sites. Now, almost every ounce of rubbish that students produce is recycled. Obviously, this is a good marketing ploy. Today’s students are increasingly making consumer choices based on ethics and sustainability practices: whether the jeans they wear have been made with child labour; whether their make-up has been tested on animals; whether the farmers who grew their coffee or tea were paid a fair wage. So by being an accommodation provider that actively promotes green living, we can differentiate ourselves from other less ethically inclined providers.

Of course, we can’t just expect students to behave in green ways – we also need to give them the tools to do it. So in every flat’s kitchen, we’ve given students two bins: one for general waste, and one for recycling. Then in the bin stores, we’ve put three types of bins for students to sort their waste. We’ve also used our student-facing website DIGS to explain how the system works and what students need to do. And we’ve trained all our reception staff on how to help students do the right thing.

On top of that, students need a good reason to help us with our zero landfill targets. This is one of those rare instances where what works financially for students also works for investors. That’s because it’s actually cheaper for us to recycle all our rubbish than it is to send it to landfill. As a result, our refuse collection bill is plummeting. That has a direct impact on our accommodation costs for students. And it keeps our operational costs down, which means a healthier bottom line and stronger returns for investors. Lower accommodation costs also give us a competitive advantage. So being green isn’t just a marketing stunt – it’s helping us cut costs, maintain high occupancy rates, and turn a bigger profit. Proof then, that businesses don’t have to choose between being making money and behaving in an ethical way.

By now, we’re all totally familiar with the debate about tuition fee rises. On one side, student groups argue it will have a detrimental impact on student numbers and university life. And on the other, the government is trying to convince the public that it will make universities more flexible, efficient and responsive. It’s far too soon to know who’s right. But there’s little doubt that the issue is already changing the shape of higher learning in Britain. Read the rest of this entry »

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

Every time we think the great tuition fees debate has run out of steam, a new issue springs up. And the latest might just be the most important of all: confusion. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Wednesday, several thousand students marched through London in protest against tuition fee rises and what many of them see as the “privatisation” of UK universities. By now, we’re used to seeing students out on the streets. Indeed, we’ve blogged about protests before, and we’ve commented a lot on the rising ill feeling towards tuition fee rises. But the latest march had a different – and some would say tenser – character. Read the rest of this entry »