By Wachira Kigotho
The frequent incidents of hooliganism and destruction of property by university students provide food for thought as to the long-term threats and risks to residents of university neighbourhoods.
The constant blocking and stoning of cars along public highways or looting of private property has created negative perceptions about students. Motorists along Thika Road regard students of Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology as the scourge of the highway, while residents of Kabete are irked by clashes between matatu operators and students of the University of Nairobi.
But while this trend is consistent with the growing threat of security in areas adjacent to university campuses, it has not always been the case. There has been a long history of towns growing up around and because of universities. Such cases go back way beyond the middle ages in Oxford and Cambridge when graduating students stayed after completion of their studies and formed resident communities.
However, in modern times, towns have grown around universities. For instance medium size towns have grown around Stanford University, University of California at Irvine and Tsukuba University in Japan. In the last 30 years, over 50 university towns have been built in different mega-cities in China. Hong Kong and South Korea are planning university towns to attract different economic activities.
Basically university students are major assets to their communities in terms of contributions to the local economies through housing and living expenses.
"With increasing enrolment across the post-secondary sector, universities all over the world have seen higher percentages of students living off-campus," says Prof Michael Fox, a lecturer of geography at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.
Studying the rise of university towns in Canada, Prof Fox identified 150 communities with a total of over one million full time university students living off-campus.
A similar situation is emerging in Kenya albeit in small numbers where public and private universities have most of their students living off-campus. That is the situation at Daystar University in Athi River, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega, Kenyatta University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, United States International University and Maseno University.
More students will soon join new public university campuses in Kitui, Kisii, Meru, Nyeri and Taita and residents there should brace themselves for the students indiscipline. And with establishment of Pwani University at the Coast, Mombasa residents should be wary of college activities that might spill over into the streets and their quiet neighbourhoods.
However, highlighting symbiotic relationship between colleges, universities, their students and surrounding communities could avoid ugly incidents. In Britain, Canada, Malaysia and United States, students are being made aware of the vital roles of the local communities that provide essential services for mutual co-existence.
Subsequently, a growing number of universities have established codes of conduct to off-campus students. Penalties for breaking the code include letters of apology, fines, community service, suspension and expulsion, depending on the severity of the incident.
"Making nice with the neighbours is now a priority to many universities in Canada," says educational commentator Ms Rosanna Tamburri. Community concerns regarding lack of civility on the part of some students is becoming part of educational experience worldwide and more so among universities that admit a large number of foreign students.
Wary communities
Besides heavy drinking, noise and other unregulated student activities, local communities are wary of universities setting up science laboratories, as they are concerned of biotechnology and radiation laboratories near them. They are also worried of human and veterinary medicine laboratories.
The community at University of California in Berkeley has raised objections to construction of the Institute for Bioengineering, Biotechnology and Quantitative Biomedical Research.
The fact that the buildings will house science facilities, especially state-of-the-art new biotech research labs, is a cause for concern for many residents. They are pressing the university to disclose exactly what the new facilities would be used for . Elsewhere local communities are disturbed by growth of house prices in university towns, making it hard for ordinary tenants. In Britain, in the last five years, the average house price has increased between 35 to 60 per cent in cities with some of the top ranked universities. For instance, Manchester, which has the largest student population of 73,160, recorded an average house price growth of 63 per cent during the last five years.
Economic liberators
But despite those shortcomings, there is need to break the town -and - gown barrier because universities are seemingly the economic liberators. Stanford University is credited for the rise of the Silicon Valley in California, while other North American universities have created the North Carolina’s Research Triangle, a scientific hub that has generated many commercial patents in engineering, computer science and biotechnology.
Besides, university towns globally are producers and defenders of the 3Ts, technology, talent and tolerance. Recent studies at the University of North Carolina indicate town universities influence economic growth by building human capital within their ranks.
Irrespective of their mode of development, university towns nurture a high degree of sharing among education institutes, the companies and ordinary residents. Dr Richard Florida of the University of Toronto, Canada, says university towns have the capacity to attract talent and international investments, thus enhancing the town’s image.