Student Accommodation Quality Labels
The Student Accommodation Quality Labels are a product of an in-depth research by the HOME consortium of national standards and practices in the student accommodation sector. A feasibility assessment of the ensuing labelling exercise was also carried out to investigate minimum legal requirements for the private rented sector – and, where existing, for student accommodation in particular - in targeted EU Member States, notably those falling within the scope of the project (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands).
After screening and identifying all services and characteristics that might be relevant for the labels’ creation, a decision to put forward a set of “static” (i.e. not based on a scoring/raking system) labels was taken. The indicators which mark the specific needs of the students are introduced as a check list and each icon has a number of indicators as shown in the image below.
International friendliness: Accommodation adequate to the needs of international students. The criteria to receive this label include wi-fi, furniture, communication and contract in English, online booking available and more. | |
Room quality: | |
Super secure: | |
Premium accommodation: | |
Well-equipped kitchen: | |
Well-equipped laundry: |
More information and explanatory videos can be found on the Labels section of the project’s website: https://thehomeproject.eu/.
How are the Student Accommodation Quality Labels granted and what are the standards that underpin the labels can be found in the section Educational Materials in this wiki.
Digital Data Standard
To achieve a univocal way of gathering and structuring the accommodation data of all the different European-wide housing providers and intermediaries, a digital data standard for student housing related data has been developed.
A first version of the digital data Standard, has been created by mapping all the student housing data of sixteen large student housing providers or intermediaries across Europe. This allowed the consortium to identify the most important and wide-spread data used within the student housing sector in Europe which, together with the necessary data elements to identify and entitle the Quality Labels, formed the first version of this digital data standard.
With the student housing data being delivered in a univocal way according to the digital data standard, the HOME project was able to set up a structured database containing all the accommodation data from all the different housing providers and intermediaries that are connected. An application programming interface (API) is created on top of this database.
The Digital Data Standard is the basis of the HOME API. In simple terms, it provides an easy way of sharing data about student accommodation across (and between) different platforms and organisations. We intend that the API offers student housing providers the possibility to directly show their listings to students in the Erasmus+ App.
A video explaining further details about the DDS is available here.
Competence Center
The HOME competence center aims to provide continuity of the project’s results. It is created so HOME’s main stakeholders can access learning resources tailored to their specific needs and circumstances so they can take the most advantage from the project’s results. Moreover, this competence center will help replicate the project’s innovative results.
The educational resources will be divided into the following categories:
- Resources for students and trainees.
- Resources for Student NGOs.
- Resources for Higher Education Institutions.
- Resources for housing providers and market intermediaries.
To find out what resources exist per each stakeholder group, go to the Educational Materials section in this wiki.