Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the design and operation factors that affect the provision of fire‐safe student housing facilities, and to present the development of a proposed operational framework for fire safety evaluation of student housing facilities.

The paper identifies the causes of fire accidents in student housing facilities and classifies the factors that make it a high fire‐risk type of facility. It identifies several common design deficiencies contributing to student housing fires and reviews measures to prevent fires in student housing facilities. The paper also presents a series of guidelines for use by facility managers for the provision of safe facilities.

The proposed operational framework for fire safety evaluation in student housing facilities consists of five sequential processes, namely: archival and document evaluation; development of an audit worksheet; commencement of the walk‐through inspection; reporting of inspection findings; and development of a plan for remedial actions.

This paper serves to increase the awareness about fires and their devastating effects in residential university facilities. The paper provides practical value to the design professional of student housing projects, student housing administrators, and facility managers responsible for the daily operation of student housing facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a post‐occupancy evaluation of the major technical and functional elements of performance on a type of student housing facilities at the campus of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

The paper analyses published literature to review knowledge areas pertaining to technical and functional performance requirement elements in student housing facilities. Past maintenance work orders for the building were evaluated and analysed for the purpose of identifying frequent and major areas of complaints and discomfort to the occupants. A user satisfaction survey was developed to obtain the students' indicative feedback on their experience with the 48 identified performance elements.

The findings of the survey were analysed and reported to describe the degree of satisfaction with the identified performance elements. The paper examined the extent to which various success factors in the student housing facility had been realised.

A post‐occupancy evaluation can provide valuable feedback to planners, design professionals, housing administrators and facility managers involved in the planning, design and operation of student housing facilities. Post‐occupancy evaluation can assist in continually improving the quality and performance of the student housing facilities they design, construct, operate and maintain.

This paper aims to ascertain the adequacy of the facilities provided in the students' hostels and to also investigate the level of satisfaction of the students to the available facilities.

A total number of 250 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents. A cluster sampling method was used in the data collection in which attempt was made to get a fair representation on each floor of the hostel blocks. The data collected were then analysed using descriptive statistics such as the mean score and standard deviation.

The result showed that students were generally dissatisfied with the hostel facilities with a mean score of 2.42 on a five-point scale which represents 66.6 percent dissatisfaction level. The result also showed that not all the necessary facilities as noted by other researchers were provided for the student in the hostel.

This result points to the need for a pragmatic and dynamic approach towards providing adequate and relevant facilities in the hostel accommodation to meet the minimum standard as obtained in other higher institution as this will invariably enhance the image of the institution and make it a top institution of choice to prospective students'.

Previous studies have always tended to focus on the management and administrative aspects of students housing, this paper provides the students perspective of the housing facilities thereby giving room for continuous improvement in student housing.

There is a robust study on crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) in student housing nowadays, but has a limited utilization of weight-of-evidence (W-o-E) approach. This study aims to assess the extent of CPTED in student housing facilities of universities in Ghana.

Using the on-campus student housing facilities of both private and public universities, the study adopted W-o-E approach that integrates two postoccupancy evaluations from end-users and student housing managers. In addition, observation by professionals as the lines of evidence (LoE) was also adopted. Weighted median was used to normalise the LoE into a W-o-E as the CPTED value in the student housing facilities.

The study uncovered low CPTED in the student housing facilities. Maintenance was identified as the leading CPTED principle present in the student housing facilities.

The study has given the extent of CPTED in students’ housing, an important insight for university students’ housing management. This can serve as a policy alert for the university students’ housing management to adopt building designs that enhance CPTED and the safety of the youth.

This study is different from other CPTED and students’ housing studies commonly situated in the Euro-America context. The study exceptionally applied the use of W-o-E in students’ housing in assessing the extent of CPTED in student housing within the context of sub-Saharan African universities.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a qualitative, code-compliance framework for property managers of student housing facilities.

The paper identified the fire safety code requirements for student housing facilities and arranged these requirements in the form of a checklist, which was further validated by professional experts. Additionally, the paper presented an IDEF₀ (Integrated Definition for Function Modeling) framework model that illustrates a stepwise process for the deployment of the checklist. A case study was conducted on three similar student housing facilities in a university campus to demonstrate the application of the framework. Furthermore, the findings from the case study were reported along with recommendations to improve the degree of compliance with the requirements of fire safety codes.

The developed framework was validated by professional experts and through a case study. Fire safety provisions were mostly found to be adequate in the case study building. The authors proposed several actions to improve the current status of fire safety in the building.

The paper serves to disseminate awareness about the occurrence of fires, their severe consequences and precautionary measures in student housing facilities. It also provides a standardized checklist for ease of use by property managers who may be unable to understand the technical terminologies found in fire safety codes and standards. Thus, the developed framework is of tangible value to property managers, building specialists and student housing administrators.

Security, safety, environment and health have become an integral part of facility management (FM). Therefore, FM departments within organisations are required to put measures in place to safeguard facility users. This paper thus aims to investigate and compare the safety and security measures that are provided in the student housing of two universities in South Africa.

A mixed method approach was adopted; interview was used to collect qualitative data, whereas a questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect quantitative data. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data, whereas both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data.

It became evident that university B had a better provision of safety and security measures in the student housing than university A. The study also found that both universities had some lapses in the safety and security measures provided in the student housing. Measures that were lacking in both universities were weapon detector, closed-circuit television (CCTV), water sprinkler system, burglar bars on the doors, lift for disabled students, disabled toilet facility, traffic light, tags for vehicles, first aid box, accident book and medically trained personnel.

Data were collected from only two universities, making it difficult to generalise the findings of the research. For a broader perspective, a study that expands the number of participating universities is recommended.

The facility management and safety department in the universities can use the recommendations to improve on the safety and security measures required in the student housing. Moreover, the recommendations can contribute to the development of policy frameworks for student housing safety.

There is a paucity of studies on student housing safety/security worldwide, and South Africa in particular. With this study, the authors contribute to the body of knowledge in this area of research.

Drawing on the social support role’s research gap of the cognitive dissonance theory, this study aims to assess the satisfaction of all-inclusiveness among student with disability (SWD) living in off-campus student housing in Ghana.

SWD satisfaction data were collected through survey among off-campus student housing in six public and private universities in Ghana. Using the universal building design requirements (UDRs), a confirmatory factor analysis and multivariate regression were used to determine UDRs satisfaction among SWD.

The results showed that there exist 11 inbuilt and 9 externals UDRs among off-campus student housing in Ghana. The satisfaction level revealed that SWDs were satisfied with 5 out of the 11 inbuilt UDRs. Similarly, SWDs were satisfied with five out of nine external UDRs. Among them, only 50.5% off-campus student housing has slip-floor resistance in the buildings, which forms the highest availability among the inbuilt UDRs. Total, 33% of student housing has a clear signage, which was the highest among the external UDRs. These provided some psychological effects on SWD across the study locations.

This study seeks to encourage the adherence to the implementation of universal building design regulations and the review of structural design and permitting process in ensuring all-inclusiveness and compliance among student housing investors in Ghana.

This study uniquely contributes to the body of knowledge on all-inclusiveness among students with disability in off-campus student housing studies through the expansion of the frontiers of the social support discourse of cognitive dissonance theory in the housing subsector. Again, this study deviates from health and legal studies associated to disabilities in Ghana.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a prioritisation framework that can guide the provision and management of on-campus student housing facility (SHF) services of southern Ghana Universities.

The paper adopted a phenomenological research strategy. Data was collected by means of focus group discussions (FGDs); a total of ten FGDs were conducted. Observations were also done during the site visit to augment the FGDs. The data were analysed thematically.

The study found that some services are perceived as “extremely important” and “basic” while others are seen as “unimportant” and “indifferent”. Services including; electricity, water, security, internet, cleaning service, maintenance service, generator, ventilation (fan), health service, library service, electric socket, study furniture, refuse collection, pest control and fire extinguisher were perceived by students as “extremely important”. However, not all of these services were perceived as “basic” requirements.

The framework can be used as a guide by facility and hostel managers to effectively prioritise and manage the services required in a university SHF. Moreover, when designing, constructing and adapting student housing facilities, the framework can be used as a guide to ensure that all critical services are provided in the student housing facilities.

Although several studies have been conducted on student housing, studies that specifically focuses on the services required in a SHF and the prioritisation of such services is lacking. This study combines students’ requirements, importance levels of requirements, and classification of requirements to develop a prioritisation system for student housing services.

This study aims to examine the effect of using word-of-mouth and online housing website strategies for student housing selection and building services satisfaction during COVID-19.

The study adopted mixed-methods research approach. An online survey of 975 public and private university students experience on room selection prior to school re-opening in Ghana was used. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression model (MRM) were used to estimate the satisfaction of using online websites and word-of-mouth strategies (renting housing based on personal recommendation) on student room pricing and building services availability. Telephone interviews were further used to support the results of EFA and MRM.

The study reveals that most students were satisfied with the word-of-mouth strategy than online review marketing strategy for room selection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, online student housing review marketing strategy provided higher rent which did not reflect the services available. Furthermore, students were more interested in the nature of rooms, lavatories and kitchen in their choice of room than availability of internet, study area, television (TV) room and gym center.

The study suggest that student housing managers require to market their facilities as-it-is than to use one room as an advertising justification for all rooms which does not usually provide a true reflection of the existing situation of room. Again, housing which rely on online marketing strategies need to provide compensation for students who feel they have been misled by their advertisement.

The provision of compensation to students and availability of COVID-19 protection measures determine student room selection. Asides, the introduction of online marketing strategies in student housing in sub-Saharan student housing market is new, and, consequently, this study on it is a novelty.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of housing services in the students’ residential areas (SRAs) of Osun State University, Osogbo campus.

Eighty-eight hostels were systematically sampled and questionnaires were administered to students' representatives from each of the sampled hostels. Also utilized was a physical observation of the hostels. Data obtained include the socioeconomic characteristics of the students, characteristics of housing units in the SRAs and condition of housing services in the SRAs.

About 40% of the residents are fresh students with no previous knowledge of the housing condition of their hostels. Also, about 50% of the accommodation in the SRAs is within the range of #51,000 – #100,000 per annum (about 200–400 US Dollars). With this high price, about 65% of the hostels are occupied with not less than two squatters. While housing services such as electricity are reportedly high, the quality of hostel services in the study area depends on the housing unit's cost.

In the social context, the paper identifies the implications of the quality of housing services on students' health and associated risks. The study, among others, recommends the development of a regulatory framework for the control of the rental value of hostels, basic facilities in the hostels and the number of students in a room.

This research, unlike previous researches, gives an insight into quality of housing services in tertiary institutions in the country.