Report from RNZ
Students and parents have urged MPs to regulate universities’ halls of residence and introduce minimum standards for pastoral care.
They told the Education and Workforce Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation yesterday that staff at some halls were poorly prepared to help students with sometimes harrowing situations.
The committee is considering pastoral care and residents’ rights in student accommodation following complaints about how some halls of residence handled last year’s national pandemic lockdown.
Victoria University of Wellington student Azaria Howell said the hall she lived in last year encouraged binge drinking, did not take medical events seriously, and ignored complaints about sexism and racism.