Student housing crisis

Universities challenged. Traditionally, student accommodation has been far from glamorous: cramped attics, damp basements, poky kitchens and walls pock-marked with the previous inhabitant's Blu Tack. But a report in The Herald today suggests that finding anywhere at all to live is becoming one of the biggest worries for Scotland's burgeoning student population. It is hard to imagine Scotland's five major university cities and towns - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and St Andrews - without students. Their presence during term-time is woven deep into the character of these places. But town-gown relations can easily become strained, especially when the high concentration of students is perceived to be changing the social cohesion of certain neighbourhoods and when there is simply not enough accommodation to go around.