University life: bunk beds, night lectures, late loans
Students doubling up in bunk beds, night-time lectures and overflowing seminars are set to be a feature of the new academic term as universities stretch themselves to the limit in preparation for the biggest ever intake of freshers next week.
The “no vacancies” signs have gone up at university halls and students are being farmed out to private flats to ensure everyone has a bed for freshers’ week. Exeter University has had to convert single bedrooms into double accommodation. About 200 students will spend their first year sleeping in bunk beds, with rent discounted from £170 a week to £110.
Other universities have scheduled extra lectures at night and increased class sizes to accommodate the boom in numbers. The record-breaking year comes after a 10% rise in applications and a decision by the government to expand the number of places by 13,000, fuelled in part by more people wanting to study in the recession …