Mumbai: As colleges gear up to welcome students back on campus in full strength, the upcoming admissions season is bringing focus on a very important issue — accommodation for outstation students.
For years, colleges affiliated with the University of Mumbai have attracted undergraduate and postgraduate aspirants from several states across the country and while bagging seats in coveted courses and colleges is one part of their struggle, finding affordable accommodation is another part of the same problem.
Keeping in mind the growing numbers of students opting to pursue education in the city, several higher education institutes have been working on increasing their hostel capacity.
In March this year, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) inaugurated a new 10-storey hostel building (Hostel 17) with 1,115 rooms. This hostel was in response to the growing student intake at the institute and the constant demand for more accommodation within the campus.
“In December 2021, the silver jubilee alumni batch of the institute also initiated a project to build a world-class hostel on campus in place of the existing Hostel 8. Besides, Hostel 21 will also be constructed. We want to give the best accommodation to our ever-increasing brood of students,” said an official from the institute.
Education institutes that completely shut down in March 2020 following the nationwide lockdown managed to reopen starting October 2021. In January 2022 education institutes were shut again owing to rising cases and reopened only for small groups of students in the last week of January. After two years, education institutes in the city will open up to the full strength of students starting Monday.
Only a handful of city colleges have hostel facilities available at present. While most students depend on PG or rented accommodation, the rising real estate rates in Mumbai have affected the choice of accommodation. Hostels, especially attached to the education institute, have been a top priority for many.
K J Somaiya Medical College and Research Centre, Vidyavihar, recently received permission to increase its intake capacity from 50 to 100. The ever-growing demand for hostel space made way for a new hostel building on campus this year with a capacity to accommodate 500 students.
“The new hostel building will help make space for our students from the medical, physiotherapy and nursing colleges. It has been built keeping in mind the needs of students and has the best of facilities made available to all,” said a spokesperson for the institute.
The University of Mumbai attracts lakhs of students to its 800-plus affiliated colleges year after year, and with this comes the demand for more accommodation for outstation students. The annual senate meet held in March this year once again brought the focus on this issue as senate members questioned the varsity on the status of new hostel buildings.
In his response, vice-chancellor Suhas Pednekar confirmed that the work on one hostel each for girls and boys coming from reserved category and one for international students is currently underway.
“The university boasts of six hostel buildings at present, while three others are under construction. The new buildings will not only have a larger intake capacity but will also be equipped with the best facilities. We are also working on remodelling some of the existing hostel buildings to ensure the safety of our students,” said a spokesperson for the varsity.
