Have PBSAs missed the mark on their branding when it comes to attracting Gen Z?

Rui Barros, Global CEO of Yugo student accommodation believes branding for most Purpose Built Student Accommodation providers is in its infancy, with a disconnect between what Gen Z are looking for and how PBSAs are marketing themselves.

In this episode of Group Chat, we talk to Rui about:

- Why Yugo's brand is built on insight from Gen Z across the world

- How the Yugo brand filters down into the resident experience

- How 40,000 beds can change the world

- Why the best ideas are stolen from the hospitality industry

- What other PBSA operators can do to make their proposition more appealing for Gen Z

Find out more about Yugo

Find out more about CampusLife

Watch the episode here on CampusLife's YouTube channel

International students have felt the effects of COVID-19 lockdown in the UK the hardest, with many still stuck in university accommodation, unable to get home. For those students who have managed to travel back to their home countries, many have belongings left behind in the UK with no foreseeable way of getting them and a unique experience of the COVID-19 outbreak in both the UK and their home country.

This episode, we're talking to two international students from our Global Student Stories project on YouTube, Freja and Carla, understanding their experience of leaving the UK right before lockdown, how they are continuing their studies online from another country, what they think of the UK's response to the outbreak and their thoughts on returning back to the UK when possible. Is it a university experience they want to return to?

Social distancing measures in place during the COVID-19 outbreak has completely changed the way residence life events in accommodation are run, with all events now being delivered online. While this is the complete opposite of the face to face community building that traditional residence life provides, does a virtual delivery actually enable it to reach more students, including prospective students and become an even bigger part of the student experience?

On our very first episode, we talk to James Greenwood, Student Experience Manager for Accommodation & Estates at University of the Arts London; and Tom Martin, Head of Residency Living at Student Living by Sodexo to find out how they've digitised their residence life programme and what they think of its' future in a post COVID-19 world.