NTU: Demand for hall places 'exceptionally strong', will review capacity again

Official response from the university.

Zhangxin Zheng | July 02, 2021, 01:41 AM

The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) said it will be reviewing the number of hall places to allow more students to stay on campus.

NTU said in a statement to Mothership on July 2 that it will carry out the review after a significant number of students, both local and international, had their applications for a place to reside in rejected.

Many of them were unaware about the reduced number of hall places prior to application.

In addition, students were informed that they only had two weeks to move out of their rooms by July 15, which made them feel even more anxious about the uncertainty of their future accomodation.

The NTU Students' Union had been working with the university's management and updated on July 1 evening that international students, who are currently residing on campus, do not have to move out and the university will reach out to them to address their concerns.

High demand, low supply

An NTU spokesperson replied to Mothership's queries at 12:07am, explaining that the shortage of hall rooms were due to safe management measures and an "exceptionally strong demand" for hall places this year.

However, the university is now reviewing the capacity to allow more students to stay on campus.

Here's the statement in full:

"As part of safe management measures, NTU has had to review the number of hall places offered for the upcoming academic year. It is also noted that this year has seen exceptionally strong demand for hall places.

However, with vaccinations now well underway and a good vaccination rate expected, as well as other safe management measures that we intend to apply, we are currently reviewing the capacity to allow more students to stay on campus.

More updates will be provided in the next few days."