Dorms to degrees

India needs a well-regulated student-housing market

The recent collapse of a building in Delhi’s Satya Niketan, killing seven people, including students, has brought the question of student accommodation into focus. Organised housing for students remains small in India. An industry assessment estimated that professionally managed student accommodation serves less than 0.5 per cent of those enrolled, compared with 13-15 per cent in the United States (US) and 17-19 per cent in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023-24. This points to a growing need for suitable housing as more students move away from home to education hubs such as Delhi. An industry study estimated 9.08 million migrant students nationally in 2018-19. It also found that 50 per cent of Delhi-National Capital Region’s 745,000 higher-education students were from outside the region, suggesting demand for an additional 250,000 professionally managed beds. While these figures are dated, they underline the need for a more systematic assessment of student-housing demand.