The Hanoi National University can accommodate 22 percent of its students – the highest percentage a university in Hanoi can afford its population.

The University of Technology, meanwhile, can provide rooms for around 17 percent of its 25,000 students.

The situation is even worse for privately-run universities.

The private Oriental university offers living space for just six percent of its students while other schools like Thang Long and Dong Do don’t offer any accommodation.

Nguyen Duc Dan, an official from Thang Long Private University, said despite 20 years of operation, the school was still unable to secure enough funding to build dorms.

Quality suffers

Not only is there a dearth of dorms in Hanoi, it seems that the few existing ones are dilapidated and cramped.

Tran Van Dung of the municipal Youth Union said most municipal dorms were built decades ago and too small.

In Me Tri Dormitory, a 16-squaremeter room is occupied by 14 students.

Rooms are also ill-equipped with only enough space for beds and no other furniture or lounge areas.

According to students, a lack of management in the dorms has also led to a noisy study environment where visitors are allowed at all hours and theft is a major concern.

Hanoi’s focus on business investment projects has left the city’s university students on the back burner, said Dung.

The Youth Union is planning to ask municipal administration for further support to tackle the dormitory shortage.

It will also call for investment from domestic and foreign businesses as students, enduring many hardships, were the future of the nation, Dung said.

Source: Tien Phong