University of York's plan to house students 35 miles away branded 'absurd'

The university has offered more than 100 students places to stay in Hull and told them there is no available housing in York due to “unprecedented demand”.

But it said this is a temporary measure, as more accommodation is due to become available in York in January 2022, and the students are being offered a 10 per cent rent discount and a free shuttle bus service.

It comes as many universities in the country are under pressure to provide enough places and accommodation, as a record number of pupils (395,770) were accepted onto their first-choice course after exams were cancelled and they were awarded grades based on teacher assessments.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, described the decision to house students in Hull as “absurd” and said it will “cause huge disruption to education”.

“This situation requires student quota legislation, but Government (is) too busy legislating to fix a ‘free speech’ problem that doesn’t exist,” she said.

"Of course it will be staff who are forced to deal with this mess. The same staff whose pay has been kept down, who are subjected to exploitative contracts, and attacks on their pensions.

"A lot needs fixing in higher education - starting with role of vice chancellors in perpetuating this rotten model."

She added: “The shuttle bus will still take 1.5 hours, and quite frankly why should any student tolerate this? This is very bad.

“The answer is to not allow universities to hoover up students, not to bus them from city to city.”

A university spokeswoman said: “There has been huge demand for University accommodation across the UK, including York, and we’re working hard to find additional rooms.

“We have close links to nearby Hull, which is a temporary measure because we’re expecting new accommodation on campus from January, but we understand this is not ideal and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience.”