Summer term is only a couple of months away. One of the concerns of mainland students is about hall application. So a lot of mainland students joined the Introductory Session on Student Visa, Insurance and Accommodation held on 26 March 2010, when staff from SRO talked about accommodation issues and responded to the concerns of mainland students.

Hall Application for the Coming Summer and 2010/11: During the session, students were briefed on important issues, including the application period and procedures, plans for summer residence application, confirmation of hall offer and room allocation etc.  The application period is from 29 March to 7 April 2010, during which time students can apply via AIMS for both summer residence and residence for next year. It is important to keep in mind that students have to submit their applications for summer residence and next year separately on AIMS and that applications will close at 12:00midnight on 7 April.

Check-out:
If you do not plan to stay after the end of this semester or have not applied for summer residence, you have to check out before 12:00noon on 22 May 2010. Checking out means not only moving out of your room but also packing and moving out all belongings. This will affect how you decide the summer residence plans that you will apply for. After all, planning ahead is the first step to enjoying a wonderful summer and a fruitful new semester. At the briefing, students were very concerned with this and were told that the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) of CityU will arrange a storage service and announce details in late March 2010.

Room Moving:
Students were reminded of the possible need to move to another room in their Hall for their summer stay, since certain floors of each Hall will be reserved for summer letting to outside visitors, while the other floors will be for CityU students. Those who live in hall from the summer residence period to the next year (2010/11) may also need to move in August into the room assigned to them for next year. SRO will inform people by email of the moving dates, which should fall within the period from mid- to end of August.

Future Accommodation:
Many mainland students expressed concerns over whether they can live on campus in the coming years of their study and also about the allocation criteria. The current construction of two new halls will be completed for occupation by 2012, when 700 more beds will be provided. But during the next 2 years, existing hall places will not be enough to satisfy the demand from all types of students.  However, SRO shared about the principle of maintaining a balance between local and non-local students, keeping the ratio at 50:50. The hall applications of the two groups of students will be evaluated separately by the same scoring system for “returning residents”. The criteria take into account a resident’s contributions to the Hall, leadership qualities and student discipline record, as well as the recommendations of their respective Residence Master and Residents’ Association.

Puzzling as it may sound, mainland students can take the scoring system and criteria as a standard reference and take proactive steps to blend into residence life. Just as diversity is valued greatly in the Student Residence, so we can all make our own contribution  and add unique color to this big warm resident family.