Studentification and Urban Change in South Africa

Housing in multiple occupation and studentification in Johannesburg

“…In the context of the global South much less scholarship exists about studentification and its impacts. This said, case studies are available for Chile (Prada, 2019), China (He, 2015), Kenya (Fedha et al, 2017) and South Africa, where there is recorded a marked upturn of research around studentification (Benn, 2010;Donaldson et al, 2014;Ackermann and Visser, 2016;Gregory and Rogerson, 2019;Visser and Kisting, 2019;Gregory, 2020).…”

“…Since the end of apartheid, South Africa's higher education system has been transformed, with a focus on increased student access particularly amongst those racial groups disadvantaged under apartheid. Since the democratic transition in 1994, the number of students enrolled at higher education tions has more than doubled and this growth set the stage for studentification within several urban areas of South Africa (Akoojee and Nkomo, 2007;Gregory, 2020). The first analysis of studentification in South Africa was Benn's (2010) interrogation of the impact of student housing in residential areas close to Stellenbosch University in Western Cape province.…”

An easy target: studentification, crime and safety of students in Johannesburg

“…The city of Johannesburg is an important city for accessing quality higher education. The city is home to two major universities and several private colleges that draw thousands of students each year (Gregory, 2020). The University of Johannesburg is spread across four campuses in Auckland Park, Cottesloe, Doornfontein and Soweto and has around 50 000 students (UJ, 2019).…”

“…Two forms of student accommodation dominate in Johannesburg and include housing in multiple occupation and purpose-built or retrofitted student accommodation (Gregory & Rogerson, 2019a, 2019b. Many of the students who study at the University of Johannesburg are first-generation university students who come from other provinces or the periphery of the province (Gregory, 2020). Thousands of students are channelled into off-campus student accommodation and therefore rely on university transport, private shuttle services or walking to access campus.…”

“…There has been growing research interest on studentification in South Africa (see Ackermann & Visser, 2016;Donaldson et al, 2014;Gebadegesin et al, 2021;Gregory, 2020;Gregory & Rogerson, 2019a, 2019bNdimande, 2018;Visser & Kisting, 2019). Despite this growing interest, the link between studentification and crime has received limited recognition in local literature.…”