Digital Infrastructure for Student Accommodation in European University Cities: The “HOME” Project

Finding reliable and safe accommodation is a key obstacle to students’ international mobility. While the European Commission plans a tri-fold increase of Erasmus+ participants by 2027, allowing international students to get suitable accommodation remains one of the main difficulties encountered during the mobility experience. European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are unable to cover the majority of student accommodation demand. Indeed, as stated by Eurostudent VII Report, only 17% of students in Europe find home abroad in student accommodation facilities. Moreover, in accordance with the Erasmus+ Impact Study 2019, 23% of the students involved in the survey considered very important to have support in finding accommodation abroad during mobility along with insurance and other practical aspects. This contribution explores the first results of the European project HOME (Home of Mobile Europeans). The project, currently ongoing, is funded by the 2019 Key Action 2 Erasmus+ call and developed by six European partners. According to the digital transition planned by the Erasmus+ Programme, HOME supports EUmobility by providing students and trainees with a digitalized infrastructure that integrates the search for accommodation within existing European digital mobility initiatives, such as the Erasmus+ App. Moreover the project defines a set of living “quality labels” to increase the transparency of information about accommodation offer at the European level. Furthermore, educational resources and a training toolkit will be available, in the HOME website, to spread and replicate the project’s learnings results. Once operational, HOME will represent an essential digital solution for a more accessible and quality student accommodation offer.