It is a far cry from the typical image of draughty, damp university digs.

Student flats offering on-site cinemas, private gyms, dinner party rooms and Egyptian cotton sheets are booming in Scotland.

As the new university term gets underway, spaces in luxurious studio flats costing as much as £13,000 a year are being snapped up.

At Woodside House in Glasgow, where superior studio flats for two featuring a glass-walled sky lounge, on-site cinema, private gym and dinner party room for £257.50 a week have sold out.

The accommodation service, run by firm Collegiate AC, also offers luxury lifestyle packs costing £1300 to provide everything a student could want – from duvets and bedding to wine and reed diffuser.

All studios and en-suite rooms at its Buccleuch Street property in Edinburgh, which cost from £160 to £270 a week, have been snapped up.

In Aberdeen, premium en-suite rooms at Unite Students Causeway View accommodation, which offers an on-site gym, common room and roof terrace for upwards of £153 a week, are also sold out.

In Glasgow, there is a waiting list for all types of accommodation in the city-centre based Gallery Apartments run by CRM Students, which features an on-site gym, cinema room and flat screen TVs, which cost from £168 to £265 a week.

There is also a waiting list for new Vita Student accommodation in Glasgow, which lists free ‘grab and go’ breakfasts and Egyptian cotton sheets among its selling points.

The purpose-built student accommodation blocks springing up across the country range from these type of luxury studio flats to less expensive en-suite bedrooms in more traditional-style shared flats, which usually have all-inclusive bills.

Stewart Moore, commercial director CRM Students, which has locations in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen, said the days of the ‘Young Ones’ – the 80s sitcom about four students sharing a squalid house – were over.

He said: “What students want now is well-run accommodation – they want to focus on what is important to them, which is getting a good degree.

“If you don’t get a good degree then the job market becomes challenging, that is why the number of purpose-built [rooms] for students is going through the roof.”

Moore said luxury accommodation was popular with domestic as well as international students and just like ordinary houses, had a range of prices.

He said: “We do have expensive ones in Glasgow, but they are right on the doorstep of university and have a cinema and a gym and things like that. Students are demanding more, in their academic life and from their parents.

“They want to focus on their studies, sport or socialising and they don’t want to panic that if the boiler goes it will take two weeks to repair, or if a lightbulb has gone or a tap is leaking.

“All of our schemes and most of our competitors have maintenance guys on site, so it is all fixed in a few hours – which makes a big difference to their lifestyle.”

He said while for current forty-somethings living in a run-down flat might have been a “rite of passage” and the norm for students, the Millennial generation expected higher standards.

“They expect the norm to be much better,” he said. “We slummed it in tracksuits – these guys are wearing Abercrombie and Fitch and Jack Wills.”

However, not everyone is quite so happy at the boom in purpose-built student accommodation. Last week plans for a 185-bed student housing development in Sauchiehall Street adjoining Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art (GSA) were criticised as "totally inappropriate" by the MacKintosh Society.

Sandra White, SNP MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, wants a moratorium on building student flats in Glasgow raising concerns about the “knock-on” effect in local communities when there is an influx of students.

She said: “In the Kelvin constituency alone, we have had so much (building) that local constituents have raised issues on numerous occasions.

“It is nothing against students whatsoever, it is just the whole social fabric of the area is changing dramatically – local wee pubs are closing and being replaced by more trendy bars.”

Investment firms are often behind the building of the accommodation, with student flats now seen as way to guarantee reasonable returns at a time of low interest rates. One expert said most pension funds now have a student accommodation in their investment portfolio.

White said: “They call it student accommodation, but these are private businesses which are opening up. We do need more accommodation – but look at the price of them.”

A recent survey found Edinburgh was the most expensive city in the UK for students, with an average of £112 per week spent on rent, compared to around £110 across the UK. In Glasgow the weekly average was £96.16, while in Dundee it was £94.49.

The National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland raised concerns about the cost of luxury student accommodation. Vonnie Sandlan, NUS Scotland president, said that while some students were able to move into "purpose-built, higher-end, student accommodation, that’s sadly not a reality most students can relate to, and this is something that needs to be addressed.”

Psychologist Dr Cynthia McVey said those living in the luxurious studio blocks might miss out on one of the life lessons of being a student.

“There is a lot of skill to be learned from flat-sharing,” she said. "Students who live like that can become lifelong friends and enjoy what they learn about budgeting and cooking and finding time pressures a bit hard.”

She also pointed out that for those able to afford luxury accommodation may have an advantage in their studies.

Tales from upmarket student digs

Savio Baptista, 28, who is from Toronto, Canada, is studying law at Strathclyde University. He is in his second year of staying in Collegelands in Glasgow, which is run by Fresh Student Living and offers all-inclusive bills and facilities such as games rooms, 24/7 staff and laundry and bike storage facilities.

He said: “I just liked the fact there was so much offered with the £120 a week which I pay for my room. You get Wifi and I can control my own heat...In terms of for social life, it is great. If you want to take a break and go hang out with people, you can go downstairs. People are typically paying between £95 and £120 a week if they are living in student halls."

Baptista, who also works part-time as a resident assistant at Collegelands, said the location of the property also made it attractive.

“The library is close by so it makes studying a lot easier and it is just good to be near campus as there is so much happening,” he added.

“A lot of people do choose to move out of student halls after first year and go to the west end or Sauchiehall St and get their own privately rented flats.

“They pay quite a bit less, so they are happy on cost perspective, but it is not so good from the travel perspective.”

Meshaal Furqan, 21, from West Yorkshire, is studying for a Masters in biomedical engineering at Strathclyde University and staying at St James House in Glasgow run by CRM Students, which offers facilities such as a gym, cinema room and games rooms.

She pays £135 a week for a room in a ‘cluster’ flat and said the all-inclusive bills and ability for flexible payment plans was an important factor in choosing the accommodation to help make sure her costs were kept within budget.

She said: “I was trying to find somewhere close but within budget - it is a great location and really safe.

“There is a great mix of people here –we have a wide variation in the people who come here and what they do –there are international students and undergraduates as well.”