ASRA News
Katy's Blog: Living Black at University

Katy Lemmon
ASRA Northern Rep
Living Black at University – How are ASRA involved?
I’m sure that anyone who works in Student Accommodation is by now well aware of the groundbreaking research commissioned by Unite Students and carried out by Halpin Partnership on how our black students feel about living in our accommodation. ASRA are proud to be part of the Living Black at University Commission to provide sector information and experience to help shape a better living experience for our student residents.
What have ASRA been doing to support?
As a start, we are making our conference as diverse as possible, and welcome as many of our BAME colleagues to join us as possible. We have some incredible speakers lined up including one of the founders of the Living Black at University Report – Sam Kingsley. Learning from the experience and knowledge that Sam and others in the sector share are absolutely key reasons to come and join us at the 2025 ASRA Conference!
We're currently working with the commission to continue to develop toolkits to provide sector support in order to meet or exceed each recommendation in the report. We are developing a template Behavioural Agreement that can be shared with residents as part of the student journey to clearly set out how to live positively as a community and provide guidance on support and access to services.

The Living Black at University Conference hosted by The University of Kent in October was impactful, poignant and provided a room full of passion, dedication and a drive for change. There were many tears shed – both of joy and compassion, and everyone left with a strong belief to do more and do better. It was a wonderful day to be a part of, and I would like to extend our thanks to the Commission, the incredible speakers, Unite Students, CUBO, and The University of Kent for organising such an impactful event.
This is where ASRA can really support the drive for change by bringing together colleagues from across the sector to share best practice, ideas and experience – we know there is so much passion, hard work and initiatives being created that should be shared and celebrated. Bringing passionate student accommodation professionals together is what ASRA does best, and we commit to support the Living Back at University commission in this way. Watch this space for your chance to get involved!
There is also opportunity for our members to provide feedback on how they want us to support the Living Black at University Commission. If you have an idea on how we can help to drive positive change then get in touch with your ASRA Regional Representative – either at your next meeting or drop them an email. The Reps are keen to develop ideas and share best practice so please get in touch!
Click here to find out more about Living Black at University
Joining ASRA
If you or your organisation are thinking of joining ASRA just go to our Membership Section for all the details on types of membership and how to connect with one of the biggest networks of student accommodation professionals in Europe.
