The Student Accommodation Association held another industry gathering in Adelaide on Thursday, 25 August 2022. The topic of the event was focused on reimagining South Australia as a study destination and it was a great success.
 
It was great to learn that student accommodation has achieved an elevated profile amongst Australian international education largely as a result of the sector support for international students during the pandemic. There is a heightened level of awareness amongst education providers as to the competitive advantage access to student accommodation can play in enhancing the Australian education offering and international student experience.
 
SAA looks forward to continuing to work collaboratively, on behalf of our members, with governments and education stakeholders to promote NPAS to enable international students to make an informed accommodation choice.
 
Special thanks to Hon Susan Close MP, Deputy Premier of South Australia, Torie Brown, Executive Director, Student Accommodation Council, Jane Johnston, Chief Executive, StudyAdelaide, Belinda Henderson, General Manager, The Switch, Oscar Zi Shao Ong, National President, the Council of International Students Australia (CISA)and Grant Smith, StarRez for their valuable contributions. Special mention also goes to Rebecca Bendall (SAA National Committee member) for coordinating proceedings.
 
The Student Accommodation Association was delighted to award Y Suites (South Australia) and UniLodge Australia Lincoln House (Victoria) with their NPAS accreditation certificates.

The Student Accommodation Association was proud to take part in the ICEF Australia New Zealand (ANZA) 2022 event held between June 14 to June 17 2022 in Adelaide.

SAA would like to thank ICEF for the opportunity to speak at ICEF ANZA 2022, with Geoff Denison (Associate Director, Student Accommodation Services at the University of Adelaide, and President, SAA) and Rebecca Bendall (Director, Global Platforms at Torrens University, and Committee Member, SAA) representing SAA and presenting the National Property Accreditation Scheme to attendees.

NPAS provides education providers with the confidence to actively promote a clear and consistent accommodation message and NPAS accredited properties demonstrate Australia’s commitment to international student safety and wellbeing.

Education agents in attendance who are key influencers in international student accommodation decision making welcomed NPAS as a valuable program that identifies quality accommodation for the exclusive use of students, and will support and enhance the student education experience in Australia.

ICEF ANZA 2022 brought the global community of educators, institutions, agents, and industry related service providers together to focus on recruiting students from around the world to institutions in Australia and New Zealand.

The ICEF ANZA 2022 14-17 June Event Report is available now and can be accessed here.

The Student Accommodation Association was honoured to take part in the 2nd Australia China Education Symposium hosted by the Australia China Business Council in Sydney on Friday 10 June 2022.

The Symposium brought Industry and Government leaders together to identify key themes to the post-pandemic future.

Australia's future wellbeing relies on the university sector to produce our future leaders and advance research with global partners that will ensure economic growth and sustainability. International education is critical to the sector and China is a key partner as a major source of students, along with being Australia's third-largest research collaboration partner.

As further recognition for the important role student accommodation plays in the international education experience, the program included a panel discussion involving Anouk Darling, CEO, Scape, Matt Row, COO, UniLodge Australia (Vice President, SAA) and Geoff Denison, President Student Accommodation Association (SAA).

The panel helped the high-level Industry and Government audience to better understand why student accommodation is more than a place to live, the role the sector played in supporting international students during the pandemic and introduced them to the National Property Accreditation Scheme as the clear and consistent accommodation message to include in Australia’s international education post-pandemic offering.

The panel encouraged the audience to support NPAS, explaining that students in student accommodation are customers, while students in private rental accommodation are tenants. NPAS helps students make an informed accommodation choice.

To review the event summary, you can download it here. 

The Student Accommodation Association (SAA) was proud to extend an invite by Study NSW to SAA members to participate in the NSW Education Showcase virtual event series held throughout March and April 2022.

Ron de Haan, National Committee Member of SAA, and Anouk Darling, Chief Executive Officer of Scape and SAA Executive Member spoke on behalf of all NSW members at the ‘Sydney education showcase: A world-class education in an iconic city’ virtual event on Wednesday 30^th of March 2022. Ron and Anouk spoke about quality SAA member property options across Sydney and NSW, and the integral role SAA plays in the student accommodation industry.

“SAA is proud to support Study New South Wales by providing quality accommodation options to international students who choose NSW as their preferred study destination.” Ron declared.

“Scape is really proud to be a member of SAA, playing our part in promoting the importance of quality student accommodation to the international education experience… in addition to meeting SAA industry standards in every property, Scape buildings are purpose built to ensure students will have the best experience and will have the best experiences that last for a lifetime.” Anouk stated.

Showcasing the best of the state, Study NSW promoted Sydney and NSW to future and current international students, parents, and agents to learn from industry leaders and other international students about studying, living, and working in Australia’s leading study destination.

To watch the exclusive interview in full, click here.

To watch the NSW Education Showcase Virtual Event Series, click here.

We would like to thank StarRez for their ongoing support of the student accommodation sector and the Student Accommodation Association, and are proud to continue working with them as a SAA Corporate Sponsor in 2022.

StarRez has over 850+ customers worldwide, helping to create thriving residential communities that value wellness, connection, and great resident experiences, ensuring that they are easy to manage and have high retention, attraction, revenue, and occupancy. As a global leader, StarRez provides the most comprehensive Student Accommodation and Conference & Event management solutions to universities, colleges, and purpose-built student accommodation providers. StarRez is committed to security and ensures the privacy of your data (SOC2, PCI, FERPA & HIPAA ready, GDPR compliant), providing end-to-end solutions.

Partnering with the Student Accommodation Association can provide your organisation a multitude of opportunities and benefits. If you would like to be involved with SAA, we have a number of packages available – for any budget and needs. We stand to provide the industry significant value from a strategic alignment with SAA, with packages that can provide you an excellent opportunity to connect with student accommodation stakeholders nationally.

Contact us to find out more about how you can benefit from one of our packages.

The Student Accommodation Association would like to thank our Discussion Panel and members for joining the conversation at our Preparing Student Accommodation Providers for Recovery Virtual Roundtable held on 9 March 2022.

Bringing in a new year means welcoming new and returning international students back to Australia. In a post pandemic world, it is vital that we continue to ensure the safety of our residents and that student accommodation providers are supported in applying COVID-19 Safe protocols.

Our Discussion Panel shared insights into the challenges student accommodation providers face as international students return in 2022. Experts in the Australian international education sector like our speaker Alison Dell emphasised the economic importance to the Australian Government of international students returning and shared recent data on the return of international students to Australia.

We appreciate the input from all panel experts including Anouk Darling, Kimberley Roberts, and Geoff Denison who provided solutions to further challenges faced by the student accommodation sector currently. The discussion panel stood together as a united front in how we can move forward and support international students who are returning to face-to-face learning with COVID-19 Safe student accommodation.

Once again, we thank our sponsors StarRez, Inc., Western Union Business Solutions and Insurgo Insurance Broking Pty Ltd for their ongoing support and partnership.

We look forward to SAA members joining the conversation at future events.

Even though not everything went as planned, the SAA Networking Lunch in Adelaide was a great success!

Thank you to our keynote speaker Denise von Wald for sharing her experience and views in her 'Lessons and Lasting Effects of the Pandemic' keynote presentation, which highlighted the resilience and community spirit at St Ann's College (NPAS Accredited).
 
We also appreciate the input from our panel experts David Riordan, Melissa Tracey, Denise von Wald and Geoff Denison who talked us through the path to recovery for the student accommodation sector.
 
During the event we had an opportunity to congratulate St Ann's College Inc, North Adelaide on their recent NPAS accreditation and
personally say goodbye to Karyn Kent.
 
Special thank you to our sponsors StarRez, Inc., Western Union Business Solutions and Insurgo Insurance Broking Pty Ltd for their ongoing support and partnership.
 
We look forward to seeing SAA members together in Brisbane,
Melbourne and Sydney early next year.

Thank you to the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) for the invitation to join the IEAA Roundtable: Student Return and Quarantine held on 24 November 2021. 

As we continue to navigate the ongoing challenges and announcements relating to COVID-19 and the return of international students, the sector united and calls for a commitment for collaboration, the need for consistent and clear information and resources, and processes that place the student at the centre.

Among other topics, participants had a chance to discuss how international students will access accommodation on their return with the share and private rental markets across the country being so tight; and the role of the National Property Accreditation Scheme will play in promoting a strong and consistent accommodation message during the post-pandemic period, ensuring that international students are no longer left to their own devices.

In the photo below, Hayley Shields (Edified) led a panel discussion with Robert Chasse (Sonder), Geoff Denison (Student Accommodation Association), Kasun Kalhara (Council of International Students Australia Inc.) and Susan Cullen (Medibank). 

We're delighted to announce that the Student Accommodation Association (SAA) will be presenting at the 2021 ISANA International Conference, which will be held online on 1-3 December. 

The 2021 ISANA Conference will provide an opportunity for all delegates to stay up to date, hear from industry leaders and make new connections with many opportunities for to share ideas, engage, collaborate and network.

Geoff Denison, SAA President, will be presenting on the first day of the conference. Geoff will be speaking about the recently launched National Property Accreditation Scheme as a tool designed to further enhance the Australian international education offering.

See the full Conference Program and register online at http://www.isanaconference.com/program.

On Wednesday, 3 November the Student Accommodation Association, in collaboration with our members, Y Suites China Insights, Scape and Student One, presented the Insight into the China Market From a Student Accommodation Perspective webinar. 

Attended by more than 50 participants, the webinar provided an exclusive opportunity to hear from the industry experts about how the Chinese international student market was impacted by COVID-19 and discuss whether it'll present similar opportunities for Australian student accommodation providers in the future.

Hosted by David Riordan, Secretary, Student Accommodation Association, webinar participants had an opportunity to hear from the keynote speaker Karen Welsh, Minster-Counsellor (Education and Research), Australian Embassy Beijing, and the panel of experts, including Eric Wang, Regional Manager, Business Development, Y Suites, William Ye, Manager | Partnerships & Business Development | China, Scape Group (Scape, Urbanest, Atira) and Sandy Kam, Sales Representative, Student One.

The webinar recording is now available, please, contact the SAA team at admin@studentaccassoc.com.au to request the access.

If you would like to keep up to date with development in the China market as we move closer to the return of international students to Australia, please subscribe to the fortnightly newsletter here.

The newsletter is delivered by Y Suites, an Executive Member of the Student Accommodation Association. Through their well-established team based in China, the Y Suites team started collating the most current information on China, which spins off to the launch of the China Insights Newsletter.

With China being one of the key markets for International Students in Australia, any policy changes, announcements, or economic changes within China could inevitably affect the overseas education and student accommodation businesses in Australia.

By launching the China Insights Newsletter, Y Suites hopes to add value to the student accommodation industry by bringing you current insights and exclusive updates on the latest happenings and trends in China.