Students' Satisfaction with Their University Accommodation
Résumé
There has been little research on students' satisfaction with the spaces making up their university accommodation. Our study takes a systemic perspective whereby the university accommodation can only be seen within a broader environment, namely the neighbourhood, to (a) compare students' satisfaction with their university accommodation according to its location (town centre, out-of-town campus), and (b) identify the socio-demographic, residential and personal variables, which could predict this residential satisfaction. A questionnaire was completed by 124 students living in France, identifying their satisfaction with various spaces making up their accommodation, together with the "Interpersonal relationships" sub-scale of the French version of the university residence environment scale (Moos, 1988). The results show that the reasons for satisfaction (vs non-satisfaction) differ according to the location of the accommodation and that satisfaction with communal areas is a highly significant predictor of satisfaction with both types of accommodation, thus confirming that students look for a place to live which provides opportunities for social interaction, and not just a roof over their heads.