University Students’ Preference for On-Campus Hostel Attributes

Abstract

The university hostel is an essential accommodation provision for students throughout their time at university. In recent decades, there has been a shift toward the university hostel as a central location for student development and support. It is a place where students live, study, entertain and socialise with other students during their university life. Therefore, consideration of relevant students’ needs should not be overlooked in providing a conducive university hostel environment. It becomes a critical agenda to gain insights into new generation students’ points of view to ensure that the design of the university hostel remains relevant to them. Therefore, this research aims to explore university students’ preference for on-campus hostel attributes. The main objectives are to identify Generation Z (Gen Z) students’ preferred attributes of university hostels and examine the values that influence their preferences. This qualitative research is based on the Means-End Chain (MEC) research model. Fifty-two Gen Z students residing in on-campus hostels provided by University Technology Sarawak, Malaysia were interviewed using the laddering interview technique. The result of this approach reveals fifteen preferred hostel attributes driven by six students’ values. The finding shed new light on the interrelationship between hostel attributes and students’ values. It provides a valuable reference for architects and university hostel management in establishing a conducive hostel environment congruent with the student’s needs.