Two people on nine square meters

Makhnovskaya is one of the 236 students who have to share rooms in

the Kringsjå student village. The size of the room she shares with Natalya

Semenova is nine square meters and it is equipped with two beds, one desk

and dysfunctional internet connection. For this the students pay 2300

Norwegian kroner each a month, while students who rent this type of room

alone pay 4000 kroner.

The international students are frustrated by the situation they have

landed in.

– The rooms do not live up to the standard we pictured, the internet

connections are broken in half of the rooms, and it is difficult to get

through with our complaints. In addition we are segredated from Norwegian

students and it is only foreigners who are forced to share the rooms, says

Makhnovskaya.

The only option

85 of the international students in the Kringsjå student village have

signed a letter of complaint to the Foundation for Student Life in Oslo

(SiO). The complaint was sent August 16th but the students have not yet

received an answer to their letter. Other students have sent individual

complaints and they call the complaint process an inconvenient

bureaucracy.

– I sent an email in which I´d written about all the flaws and problems.

The answer I received was that I had accepted these conditions since I had

signed the contract. I was also told I could apply for a single room but

the waiting time for a single room is two months, and since I´m only

staying in Norway for one semester I don´t know if there´s any point to

it, says Romanian student Alexandra Toader.

Several students say that they did not choose to share their rooms but

that this seemed to be the only option. The arrangement of two students in

one room only affects international students and the students Universitas

have spoken to do not like that their rent is higher than what SiO would

have demanded for one person living in the room alone.

Guaranteed housing

International students who come to Norway have the prior claim to the

student housing units SiO can offer. This is due to an agreement between

the University of Oslo (UiO), BI Norwegian School of Management and SiO.

– UiO guarantees international students a place to live and consequently

SiO priorities the international students according to the arrangement,

says Monica Bakken, study director at UiO.

Bakken thinks housing is an important factor when it comes to attracting

international students to Oslo but she stresses the need for more student

housing units.

– We see clearly the challenge connected to the general lack of student

housing and UiO agrees on SiO´s claim that we need more housing units.

Only affects international students

Last august SiO had problems with with overbooking housing for

international students. 200 students were homeless by the semester had

started. Housing director in SiO Tom Olstad calls the new arrangment an

experiment in order to increase the student housing capacity and avoid

similar situations.

The situation with two students in one room only affects international

students and is tested at Kringsjå student village. 236 students are

affected by the experiment.

– By this year´s semester start we have several thousand students who have

applied for a place to stay with us who we have to reject due to lack of

space. Two students in one room is an experiment we test in order to offer

housing to a larger number of students than what we normally would have

managed, says Olstad.

– Did the people who have to share rooms choose this themselves?

– Normally those who wish to apply for housing do this through our

websites and this is the case for many of those who live together in one

room. Some of the students were given housing through UiO and BI.

- Why is the total rent for two people sharing one room higher than

what one person living in a single room would pay?

– This is due to several aspects. Among other things there are more common

areas, and the rooms are furnished. When it comes to energy cost two

people will use more warm water and electricity than one student.

Olstad rejects the international students´ demands about lower rent.

– The rent is set to cover the actual cost we face with this housing concept.

Accepts criticism

Manager in SiO Fredrik Øren Refsnes is humble when it comes to the

international students´ situation. He underlines that the concept is just

an experiment.

– The information we have sent out has not been sufficient. We accept the

complaints we get concerning flaws and defects in the rooms. We are

working to compensate for all the things that lack but at the moment we

cannot promise lower rent, says Refsnes.

– We will consider all the feedback we have received when we evaluate the

concept. I have seen the students´ letter of complaint and I can promise

an answer as fast as it is possible.

Simen Tallaksen • Ketil Blom (foto) • Translation by Ingrid F. Brubaker

Wants to remove the housing guarantee

– The internationalization works faster than the house-building. If

we keep up the housing guarantee we might end up by a crossroad where

Norwegian students will be thrown out in order to make room for the

international ones, says Mari Berdal Djupvik, head of the Welfare

Council´s working commitee.

She thinks in the long run it will be difficult to maintain a housing

guarantee and welomes a discussion on today´s arrangement.

– I think we need to divide out our housing units in August in a different

way. The number of international students given a place to live in August

has increased and this year we feared that there wouldn´t be any housing

units left for Norwegian students.

In Monday´s Welfare Council meeting the set of rules of housing was

discussed. A majority from the working commitee wanted to keep 40 per cent

of SiO´s housing for Norwegian students and by that remove the housing

guarantee for international students. This proposition was voted down but

will have to be discussed again in the case of a possible merge of SiO and

OAS in January