”It is a shame that those students who are afforded among the most basic residential requirements by Stockholm University feel the need to consider themselves lucky.”

COLUMNIST
ERIC SINGLE

I walked through the doors of the subway station a few weeks ago, ducked into my jacket against the January air and looked out for the first time onto the campus of Stockholm University, where I would be spending the next five months studying as an international student. Straight ahead of me lay the central lawn and several academic buildings, as well as a scene I was not expecting.
Just off the main walkway, a modest makeshift campsite had been set up. Everyone walking by could see the low-hanging tent and belongings scattered on the ground, as well as the large cardboard sign that read something to the effect of “SU: Is this how you want to welcome your international students?” in large block letters.

As the fortunate recipient of a studio apartment a manageable subway ride away from campus, I had little reason to be upset on a personal level about a student housing system that had also fallen short in support of the demands of its international population in previous years. But that was how I had been welcomed to my exchange program, as an unsuspecting spectator to a demonstration highlighting a concerning issue, regardless of whether it was how SU wanted.
The urgency of the situation became clear a few hours later, when members of the housing office took the stage at orientation to apologize profusely to those students who had not been awarded housing through the university, an outcome that left some at the mercy of a lottery or otherwise scrambling for accommodations around town by any means.

Some incoming students may find the understanding to show some patience with an institution that must juggle the interests of over 40 000 registered students each semester. It is hard not to believe that Stockholm would struggle with the same space issues faced by major cities around the world, even without the strain applied by the large university north of the city center. However, for plenty of other students still adjusting to a university setting largely devoid of the logistical hand-holding found in other countries’ education systems, this final inconvenience surely would be the tipping point toward complete frustration.
As exciting as the range of opportunities offered to all its students may be, it is a shame that those students who are afforded among the most basic residential requirements by Stockholm University feel the need to consider themselves lucky.

Eric Single, 20, is a third-year student on exchange from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, USA. He is studying Economics at Stockholm University for the spring semester.