£200m PBSA Partnership Launched by QIP and Solibuild
23rd Mar 2023
Another week goes by in the world of student accommodation. More developments get the go ahead, a suggested overhaul on student debts and tips on how to still land yourself a summer job. Check out the latest news from the week and as always, feel free to click the links to read the full articles. Have a good weekend and don't forget the suncream!
1. Employers prize graduates' soft skills over technical knowledge
According to a Kaplan survey of 198 employers in the UK, strong 'soft' skills are more highly prized than technical knowledge when it comes to graduate recruitment
2. Willetts recommends universities buy students' debts
According to a recent article by David Willetts, the Minister of State for Universities and Science up until David Cameron's July 2014 cabinet reshuffle, the government should consider selling its student loan book to universities to better incentivise higher education institutions to improve the employability of their graduates
3. Balfour lands £24 mln Royal College of Music student housing
The accommodation on Goldhawk Road in Shepherd's Bush will replace existing facilities that Balfour Beatty will also demolish. The new development will have 417 new bedrooms, two self-contained flats and amenities including a gym, laundry, cinema and music practice rooms
4. Ofsted has 'no plans' to target inspections at Bradford over Trojan Horse row
Education bosses have played down claims that Bradford schools are to be the focus of new targeted inspections in the wake of the Trojan Horse row
5. First look at new Aberdeen student flats
Alumno Developments today confirmed it has lodged plans with Aberdeen City Council for a five-storey student block at 2 Powis Place. If plans are approved, students could me moving into the accommodation in August 2017
6. Universities resort to cold calling ex-students
UK universities targeted more than nine million of their former students with cold calls and spam emails over the past year as they increasingly adopt US-style tactics to raise funds
7. The odds are tough, but there's still time for a summer job
The last month since finishing the summer term has no doubt flown by, but you still have over two months until you have to once again pack those bags in the annual migration of overloaded cars and teary-eyed parents. A recent survey by The Student Room has revealed students are struggling more than ever to find summer jobs, despite the majority expressing an interest in taking up some form of summer work
8. A level grade inflation a thing of the past
A London School of Economics and Political Science report has concluded that ethnic minority students are less likely than their white British peers to receive UK university offers
9. Delay university, try gap-year placements
With the latest figures showing employers are still struggling to fill graduate posts, Mark Boleat says young people should rethink the straight to university approach
10. China raises student loans ceiling
Chinese college students can apply for higher loans because of an increase in tuition fees over the last decade, according to a government circular on Friday. Students can apply for a maximum of 8,000 yuan (about 1,291 U.S. dollars) in loans per person each year, according to the circular released by the ministries of finance and education, the People's Bank of China and China Banking Regulatory Commission
