International students are ‘hedging’ their country options

Student housing providers and universities should be cautious about the recent surge in demand for accommodation, particularly from international students who are ‘hedging their bets’ in a wait-and-see approach to studying abroad.

A recent online webinar hosted by Real Asset Media brought together leading purpose-build student accommodation providers to discuss student housing in post-pandemic times, and led to reports of a huge increase in bookings.

Dan Baker, general manager of Student.com, which describes itself as the world’s largest marketplace for international student accommodation, took part in the webinar and was quoted by ICEF Monitor, as saying: “In January we were 70% down, in May we are 130% up and we are above 2019 levels.

“May has been a real shift for us, getting back to business. We’re seeing a huge compression of demand in the last months of the booking cycle. People are booking in multiple locations and waiting to see what happens.”

And that’s the crux of the matter as different countries either ease their lockdowns or reimpose tighter restrictions to counter outbreaks of new variants of the coronavirus.

Valuable lessons from 2020

Global experts say international students have learned valuable lessons from the 2020 disruption to travel and the sudden switch to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and are adopting a cautious approach before committing themselves to where to study for the next three or four years.

While countries such as New Zealand and Australia were seen as handling the health emergency well last year, there is a growing acceptance that border closures and visa and travel restrictions mean students will probably have to study elsewhere if they want face-to-face teaching and an in-person campus experience instead of yet more online learning.

Wait and see

Leading higher education pathway provider Navitas says an increasing number of education agents are advising prospective international students to adopt a wait-and-see approach and to keep their options open.

Navitas surveyed nearly 900 education agents in 73 countries in March 2021 and has just published the latest in a series of reports looking at changing trends since COVID-19 disrupted normal services.

Jon Chew, head of strategic insights and analytics at Navitas, led the research and told University World News that at least some of the surge in accommodation bookings was due to students who deferred or delayed starting their courses after the pandemic disrupted travel last year.

The Navitas survey of agents found that more students were prepared to ‘hedge their bets’ – and not only with multiple ‘back-up’ institutions, as they always have; but also with ‘back-up’ countries to ensure they can fulfil their dream of studying abroad. This is an entirely new phenomenon.

“It is not just us seeing this trend. The long-running QS survey has shown that the proportion of students impacted by the pandemic saying they intend to switch has risen steadily month by month,” said Chew.

Delaying confirming plans

Vincenzo Raimo, chief relationship officer at Unilodgers, a specialist student housing search platform used by five million students from 177 countries every year, told University World News that students were “very busy doing their homework” this year and this was having a major impact on accommodation options.

“Like for like, traffic on the Unilodgers site is almost 50% ahead of where it was at the same time last year. But it is also clear that students are delaying confirming their final plans for the new academic year.

“Continuing as well as new students who have formally confirmed their university choices are waiting for the COVID situation and travel plans to become clearer before confirming travel and accommodation arrangements.

“Some new international students, for example from India, are telling us that they are determined to travel but don’t know what’s happening with their examination results this year so can’t confirm arrangements yet, while others are hedging their bets on being able to ‘trade up’ during the summer,” Raimo said.

He said Unilodgers had introduced an option on their website to search for properties that either allow for cancellation or a change of date if the student is unable to travel because of COVID restrictions, and to find student accommodation offering free self-quarantine.

“We have found most United Kingdom PBSA [purpose-build student accommodation] providers have been very flexible with students booking accommodation in advance under difficult circumstances. Over half of the PBSA properties on our site for London allow for either free cancelation or change of date in the event of COVID-related restrictions preventing travel or a change of term date,” he said.

Stewart Moore, chief executive of CRM Students, a leading student accommodation provider based in the UK, told ICEF Monitor that Asian students, in particular, are booking in multiple countries, reserving places at universities around the world and then choosing where to go depending on the situation.

“So, August and September will be very busy months for accommodation,” he predicted.

Moore says that students’ ultimate choices will be particularly influenced by how countries’ vaccination rates improve.

And this could help British universities as the UK’s successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines is making the country more attractive to international students, according to the latest QS international student survey, as University World News reported in April.

Pent-up demand

Research by BONARD, an Austria-based provider of data on international education and student housing, highlights the strong pent-up demand for study abroad, with 71% of students telling them they would rather quarantine in a host country versus 29% who would rather study online at home.

But despite this, the Navitas survey showed that most agents are still recommending that prospective students study online until travel is possible.

Chew of Navitas said: “Students are broadly accepting online delivery when it is a short-term, interim measure before face-to-face delivery resumes, and our experience working with students and their parents over the last 12 months tells us that they are committed to continuing their studies and have a strong preference for face-to-face delivery.

“The challenge for many agents is convincing parents and students that waiting for borders to open only places them in a longer queue for admission, visas and flights once travel is possible, and therefore commencing online as a transitional measure is in fact a better option.”

He forecasts that the United Kingdom and Canada will continue to grow in popularity among international students, with prospective students for both study destinations being advised by their agents to stick to their study abroad plans, according to the Navitas survey.

New Zealand, the United States, Singapore and Australia are the countries where agents are most likely to advise students to seek elsewhere to fulfil their global education dreams.

Tony Cullen, executive general manager of global engagement at Navitas, said: “We know that face-to-face remains the priority and focus for most students, so I am not surprised to see that agents are being pragmatic with the advice they offer students.

“Agents will respond to student preferences and countries with open borders and campuses will undoubtedly benefit.

“For agents, their reputation rests on being able to solve these problems for students, so being able to offer a number of options in terms of location and destination is now just as important as being able to place the student in the institution of first choice.”

Nic Mitchell is a freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European higher education. He runs De la Cour Communications and blogs at www.delacourcommunications.com.