Matt Nelson
“So much has already been done to put the ‘I’ in ACUHO-I, and as student housing develops in more places around the world I believe there are more opportunities to capitalize on the knowledge and experiences of professionals worldwide."
Our students are very bright and represent the best of their countries, coming from all over the world. In student housing alone, we have 79 nationalities represented. Our students experience the typical challenges that we see for many students worldwide in terms of mental health, finances, and finding jobs after graduation. More unique to our setting, given the large number of international students, are challenges related to adapting to a new country and culture as well as being impacted by geopolitical issues occurring around the world. Thankfully, Qatar is a very welcoming host that for many students provides opportunities they would not otherwise have for high quality higher education.
I think that the cost of higher education is one of the biggest issues facing the student housing profession right now. Our challenge as a profession is to continue to demonstrate the importance and impact of student housing while also justifying the cost. As some institutions move to outsource to private providers, there is a challenge to maintain the educational mindset and student experience in a learning environment with less control of that environment but with the same level of responsibility for student welfare and learning.
Our campus is unique because of its structure, governance, and setting. The Qatar Foundation hosts a branch campus model of higher education in Education City, where there are nine higher education institutions, with six U.S. universities, two from Europe, and one homegrown comprehensive research institution. Student housing in Qatar Foundation is a shared service where we house students from all the partner universities. Each university, in turn, has its own student affairs staff that provide support, campus activities, and wellness education, among other functions. All of these constituents work together to create the Education City community supporting all students to be successful.
Given the uniqueness of Education City, I love the joint events that bring students from all universities together, such as convocation and commencement. Nowhere else in the world is there one location with so many universities, each with their own identity and traditions, brought together for a shared vision under an organization like the Qatar Foundation. I can really feel the QF vision to “Unlock Human Potential†when we are all together!
Given the unique nature of our campus model, the most challenging and rewarding aspect of my work is coordination and collaboration with multiple constituents across the nine universities and other QF shared services. This includes developing and maintaining relationships as well as collaborating to effectively support students. Another challenge is translating and situating practice in context in Qatar. Student housing is a global profession, but there are some practices that do not work or work differently in our setting. The challenge is to take these best practices and translate them to meet the needs of our students.
As the current chair of the Global Initiatives Network, I am hoping that student housing will continue to grow and change as a global profession in the next five years. So much has already been done to put the “I†in ACUHO-I, and as student housing develops in more places around the world I believe there are more opportunities to capitalize on the knowledge and experiences of professionals worldwide. I see student housing continuing on this path and finding new ways to connect and integrate as a global student housing learning community with a global identity.
Have a colleague you believe deserves to be in Snapshot? Let us know at talkingstick@acuho-i.org and help us learn more about the people that make up our profession.
