After Corona, the student halls in Linz are well utilized again for the first time

After the summer holidays, the 2023/24 winter semester has been busy again for a month on the campus of the Johannes Kepler University in Linz. After the Corona period with closed lecture halls, distance learning and empty student dormitories, the two largest homes in Linz, the Julius Raab Home and the WIST Home, are again “well utilized”, as those responsible announced in the OÖN interview.

The Julius Raab Home offers around 800 places. “Demand is greater again this year than in previous years,” say Raab-Heim operations manager Roman Gassenbauer and managing director Peter Seiringer. Renovation work totaling 15 million euros has now been completed in the building and the reopening was recently celebrated. The indoor swimming pool has become a modern, trendy sports hall.

“We are full,” says WIST managing director Michael Cetinkan. But unlike before, students’ stay at home was significantly shorter when residents stayed for a few years. “Some are only with us for a few months to six months.” Thanks to internationalization, the proportion of students from abroad has increased significantly, adds JKU professor Thomas Gegenhuber, who is a WIST board member.

Internationalization of the JKU

This is also proven by the JKU statistics. While the proportion of international students at the JKU was nine percent in 2003 (1,050 out of a total of 12,300 students), this year it is now 17 percent – 4,100 out of 24,300 students.

The times when all the parking spaces around the Linz student dormitories were full of cars with Upper Austrian license plates are over. “Students from India or Poland don’t travel by car,” says Gegenhuber. Those responsible for Raab and WIST say they are happy about the international audience. In addition, it is no longer important for “Generation Z” to own a car. More than 60 students from Ukraine are accommodated in both homes, which both sides are proud of. Because that is third place nationwide behind two Viennese universities. “The JKU and we at home support work well together,” says Gegenhuber. After the outbreak of the Russian war of invasion in February 2022, there was only a week to organize a place to sleep and a place to study for Ukrainian students who wanted to change. “We did it in a week.” Gegenhuber describes the Linz commitment as a “skilled workers program that others need years to develop”. “It’s about solidarity, it wasn’t important to us what it costs,” says Seiringer.

Cheapest room at 299 euros

The home porters also felt the impact of rising prices after Corona. Both providers had to increase the tariffs for home rooms by 18 percent. WIST offers the cheapest category at 299 euros per month. You get a single room, the toilet and shower are in the hallway. In the Raab home, the cheapest option is a two-bed room including a bathroom and toilet for 329 euros. “We tried to hold back the price increases for as long as possible,” says Gegenhuber. “We always try to accommodate the students, that’s our DNA,” says Seiringer.

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