The politics of student housing: Student activism and representation in the determination of the user-price of a public–private partnership residence on a public university campus in South Africa

Abstract

South African universities have been facing a critical shortage in the provision of studenthousing for several years now, and the establishment of public–private partnerships(PPPs) is seen as part of the solution to address the shortage (Rensburg, 2011). Thisarticle investigates the effectiveness of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) ofthe University of the Western Cape (UWC) in representing student interests during itsnegotiations with university management to reduce the user-price per student for the newKovacs Residence, a PPP student housing complex on the UWC campus. It thus highlightssome of the complexities involved in public–private collaborations on student housingprovision, including the tension between profitability, affordability and equity in the face oforganised student power.The article shows that, considering the various initiatives taken by the SRC to engageuniversity management, and the resulting reduction of the user-price per annum, students’interests were effectively represented by the SRC, even if this view does not correspondwith the perceptions of students. Our analysis uncovers many deficiencies in studentrepresentation processes both within student structures and university management. It issupported by data from in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion. Interviews wereconducted with SRC members and university management, and a focus group discussionwas facilitated with students in residences