The University’s Village Green residence opened in September of 2010.  The single-room residence is located on the campus of a small northern Ontario university andaccommodates 120 students, including the four Residence Advisors (one on each floor of the residence). This is a perceived as a safe community, with access to many basic amenities, outdoor activities and a few community festivals.

 

Each floor of the dormitory has a common room with a big screen TV and a stereo.  All rooms are furnished with a double bed, desk, chair, dresser, and closet. Two units share an adjoining, common bathroom. Bathrooms are cleaned weekly by university housekeeping staff and free toilet paper is provided. Dormitory residents are charged $550 per month and required to purchase a meal plan card at a cost of $2400 – 2700 per academic year (8 months). Students are responsible for the upkeep of their individual rooms, but vacuuming of the room is done weekly by housekeeping staff. The housekeeping staff is also responsible for the cleaning common rooms and areas (hallways, etc.), which is done daily. But there is a routine “Hygiene and Damage” check done weekly (photos are taken as proof of misdoing). If a room is deemed to be too dirty then a $50 surcharge is applied. The student is then given two-days to clean the room, after which the housekeeping staff does a thorough cleaning of all visible surfaces and floors. Any room damage is immediately assessed by senior maintenance staff and repairs done. If the damage is deemed to been caused by the student, a charge equivalent to the cost of repairs is then applied to the student’s account.

 

Rose George is the residence coordinator. She is responsible for residence operations:fees, registration, and social services.  Aldo Trabant is responsible for residence security; he is responsible for enforcing the student code of conduct. His primary job responsibility is the maintenance of a safe environment for dormitory residents.  Bill Wells has been recently hired as the Director of Ancillary Operations and Sales. Bill is responsible for all major decisions affecting the operation of the Village Green residence, the university’s Sports Centre, university cafeteria and bar, and the bookstore.  Bill is new to the University and is trying to change existing procedures and policies to reflect his previous employers, and many of his staff are reluctant to follow his ways.

 

Village Green has residence advisers whose responsibilities include: taking care of student needs, planning social events, and creating a safe, responsible environment. The residence advisors keep track of events in weekly log sheets that they submit to Rose. The residence advisors work from the housing office which is also located in VillageGreen; there they plan events, hold meetings, and meet with dorm residents. Residence advisors have access to $2000 a year budget, which can be used to plan events for residence students. These events can be free-of-charge to participants or are run on a cost-recovery basis, to supplement the extra costs of more costly events. Free-events included scavenger hunts, sporting tournaments, dance parties and potlucks.  Other events included, live concerts in the University pub, comedians or other forms of entertainment that require a large fee to organize.  But all planned events must receive the approval of Rose, Aldo, and Bill and many times getting all three to agree has proven difficult. In-fighting among the three has on occasion resulted in events not being approved.

 

An enormous challenge the residence faces is keeping its rooms occupied. Only 75% of the rooms are currently occupied and attracting more international students to theresidence would increase operating efficiency. Only 13.5% of international students at the university currently live in residence. After their first year, many move out to other local apartments or houses. International students have several complaints about residenceliving that make their retention difficult. An informal survey conducted among international residents revealed that living in the Village Green residence is too noisy, internet connections are too slow and expensive (internet costs $30 a month), and the number of organized events for international students in residence are far too few.  Many international students feel that residence is too expensive for what they are getting, but management cannot lower the price of housing fees. The cost of running the residence is high.

 

Immigration in Canada is being encouraged across the country, as there is a projected decline in population over the next several years, along with many baby boomers retiring.  With this, immigrants are required to ensure existing operations across the country maintain their level of service.  As a result, there will be many employment opportunities for professionals wanting to make a new life in Canada and there are some government programs that exist to assist small communities in attracting professional immigrants (as it is more difficult to attract immigrants to small urban centres, compared to large ones).  

 

Village Greens management needs to find ways of improving its service to attract international students to the residence and to retain them once their first year is over.

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CONTINGENCY PLAN

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