University of Glasgow students call for a cap on the number of enrolments

The Glasgow University Student Representative Council (SRC), one of the four main unions on campus, has demanded that the university must limit student numbers until 2027.

This comes after concerns of a lack of accommodation as Glasgow students were told not to enrol in the university due to shortages of student accommodation. The university blamed this on financial pressures in the private rental market.

The SRC states that according to the university’s own data, student numbers have increased by 40%, while other universities across the country only saw an average increase of 14%.

The SRC has four main demands in its calls: the capping of new students until 2027, reviewing the University of Glasgow’s contractual obligations with new students, supporting existing students by investing in additional educational infrastructure, and the inclusion of the SRC in future decision-making involving new student entry – with specific calls for the creation of a new working group to include new students at the 23/24 academic entry.

Glasgow is not the only city to face increasing concerns over a lack of accommodation available for students – this has also been seen in other metropolitan areas such as Manchester and Bristol. In some instances, students at Manchester have been paid to live in halls in Liverpool due to housing shortages across the country.

A spokesperson for Glasgow University has said: “The university is sympathetic to the points the SRC make and is committed to working constructively with them on this – having already committed to zero growth for the next year.”

“Planned, appropriate growth is a positive thing, giving access to higher education to more talented students who want to study at Glasgow and we have invested heavily in staff and facilities to meet this.”

This isn’t convincing to some students who have been forced to live far from the university, such as Translation Studies MA student Alex who said: “I spend more time on trains and in train stations than I do at uni. I also can’t have a social life because of the last trains so I feel so out of everything”, according to Glasgow Live.