In this article, we will explore the impacts of student house in the training of university students, bearing in mind that the different experiences in the daily lives of these young people directly influence their training.
Impact of student housing on academic training
In addition to mandatory activities, such as those in the classroom, laboratories, internships and others, students have, at the university, the opportunity to experience different situations that can contribute to their academic training: interactions with colleagues and professors, activities activities, involvement with student organizations, volunteer work, participation in sports and much more.
The available literature allows us to conclude that the educational function of universities includes the formal academic curriculum and the extracurricular life of an academic community, with the aim of helping students to develop as people in three aspects: cognitive, affective and practical competence. Thus, it is understood that higher education must be comprehensive and take into account the educational actions that consider the student as a subject, and also the set of experiences, whether those included in the formal curriculum, or the extracurricular experiences that the academic environment can propitiate.
Studies on university life
the american authors Ernest T. Pascarella e Patrick T. Terenzini released a synthesis of research in a book entitled How College Affects Students based on a literature review covering about 2500 studies; survey and discussion of the main theories adopted, with the purpose of answering the impact of universities on the development and learning of students.
The authors point out the various changes and their extension that occur in the student during the period in which they attend the university. These changes are more extensive and consistent in the development process of learning, cognition, reasoning, moral development and also aspects related to career and economic return.
Here in Brazil, studies on the variety of academic experiences that students have in their undergraduate years are scarce. Of the studies carried out so far, some results have revealed a certain convergence with conclusions based on North American production and have highlighted the importance of experiences in the students' formative years. The available national literature points out that activities outside the classroom complement the set of experiences that make up the curriculum, such as interactions between students and their colleagues and between students and teachers outside the classroom; participation in sports, recreational and cultural activities; attendance at other university spaces; and coexistence with colleagues when residing in a student house.
The studies found, identify as expectations in relation to the university life of these students the
"[...] desire for personal growth, perspectives regarding the diversity of curricular and extracurricular activities (events, congresses, internships, music, theater, meetings, parties), and the diversity of personal relationships".
Search in national territory
In another research carried out with 87 students from a private university in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Capovilla and Santos (2001) aimed to identify the frequency of participation of those students in activities called by the authors of extracurricular activities, as well as to evaluate the influence of such activities in their personal development. The main extra-class activities identified were:
- talking to teachers outside the classroom, which showed a higher frequency (97,7%);
- then, internships in the professional area (80,5%),
- living in a student residence (69,0%)
- and participation in voluntary activities (63,2%).
Participation in research projects and student clubs and organizations was also identified.
According to the results of this research, the influence of these activities is greater in the following areas of development: altruism, self-confidence, application of knowledge, autonomy, sense of purpose, reflective reasoning, social competence, vocational competence and knowledge acquisition. It is observed that the diversity of experiences identified in the study led to changes that were also varied in aspects cognitive, affective, social and behavioral of the subjects.
Student housing in Brazil and the USA
Student housing in Brazil, until then, was developed almost exclusively by public universities, within a welfare program, often poorly managed and maintained in inadequate conditions. This scenario differs from American universities, where Residence Halls had a massive development, from the Housing Act in 1950, which favored the accelerated growth of the development of these enterprises.
It was from the 1990s that the scenario of North American higher education placed student learning as an imperative to the understanding that knowledge becomes essential in the face of current issues. In this sense, strategies were devised that encompassed the contribution of different institutional environments in the students' development and learning process. That is, there was a rescue of understanding about the tasks inside and outside the classes as complementary activities. In this way, the environment of residence halls was placed as one of the spaces that can enrich the training of students. At that moment, the concept originally formulated was evoked: the fundamental belief in the importance of education on the student as a whole and the understanding that, to achieve this goal, institutions must find many ways to link extracurricular learning opportunities to the curriculum.
As can be seen, higher education in the United States has considered the student housing environment as a space that promotes experiences, which contribute to the formation of its students. Looking back, we see evidence that the intention to integrate living space and learning environment persists from the beginning of its implementation until the present day, where many American universities have as a mandatory condition that 1st year students (and some even same as the 2nd year) reside in student housing on campus.
Why do students leave home to study?
Countless Brazilian students leave their hometown to enter university. The reasons for this change are diverse: the lack of institutions of this level of education in the places where students live, the search for a specific desired course or a particular institution, the possibility of reconciling the training process with other activities , such as a professional occupation. They also move to take advantage of the facilities that the chosen location offers or the agreements established between educational institutions, which allow mobility in the training process among its members, or even to do a specific postgraduate course. Therefore, a challenge presents itself: where to live.
Just as the justifications for student migration during the university period vary, the diversity of housing situations among this moving population is very large and still little investigated in the country. There are those students who take responsibility and housing costs during their formative years. In that case, the student or his family members, relatives and others assume such costs. For these people, the solution is usually to rent or buy a property.
There are also other options such as accommodation in hotels, flats, boarding houses or republics, or living temporarily with relatives or friends, etc. In the case of boarding houses and student republics, they are usually organized in a diversified way: some receive only male students, others are female-oriented and there are those that are mixed.
Student Housing in Brazil
Fortunately, this scenario is changing with the arrival of companies specialized in the development of developments aimed at student housing, called student housing or student residence halls, creating links with universities, thus enabling a connection between life on campus and the place of residence, enhancing training and the university experience. An example is the Uliving, a pioneer in the sector in Brazil, which recently entered into a partnership with Anima Education, one of the largest educational groups in the country, with the aim of developing student residence buildings to be offered to its students, in spaces that will be an extension of university life. The idea of the project is to offer specific programs developed between companies that favor a more comprehensive and holistic training throughout the students' development phase.
In conclusion, the experience of living in a student housing contributes to the enrichment of the higher education student's integral formation, and should be considered as a relevant subject by higher education institutions, which today seek to improve their curricula and always offer a high-quality education. quality, as these environments provide the development of behavioral skills (soft skills), important requirements today for professional success, and extremely valued and sought after by companies, such as interpersonal relationships, emotional intelligence, communication, negotiation skills, adaptability and problem solving, making housing a true laboratory for the development of soft skills.
