Picture this: You’re walking down Byres Road with your Cottonrake Cafe matcha in hand. You pass the numerous people begging outside stores. Usually, you oblige them with a meal deal or money, but you’re running late for your seminar, so the apologetic ‘white person smile’ will have to do. You get there only five minutes late, out of breath. Your tutor is sympathetic, as University Avenue is monstrous. You zone out during the seminar because you, in fact, did not do the reading and lie that you found it “really interesting” when asked. You text your flatmates from your Mac that you should get Paesano pizza before you brave the queue at Hive, or maybe Kitty’s this time? This is your life, Glasgow University student, and it is good.
The idea that you may be gentrifying the West End would not come to mind. Is that some type of coffee-making technique? However, on 2 August, The Glasgow Times wrote an article citing residents’ dissatisfaction with the University’s plan to build student accommodation on the Lilybank Gardens car park. Many complained that the plans were not creating a “balanced community” as students in purpose-built accommodation “do not integrate”. One resident even went as far as to say that “the West End of Glasgow is not a student village”.
But are students gentrifiers? In 1964, Ruth Glass coined the term ‘gentrification’ and described it as “Many of the working-class quarters have been invaded by the middle-class […] Once this process of ‘gentrification’ starts in a district, it goes on rapidly until all or most of the working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed”. Glass’ hypothesis may be true as the student population is growing rapidly. From 2017-2018 to 2024-2025, the student headcount at the University of Glasgow has increased by 30% and this year is predicted to have almost 40,000 students. The population of the West End in 2014 was 24,500. Obviously, this has grown in recent years, but there is something to be said that the current student headcount swamps the whole population of the West End in the Mid-2010s. There are simply too many of us.
But are students to blame? Students come to Glasgow to get an education after all, one that is accessible through student loans and free Scottish tuition. Those quoted in the Glasgow Times didn’t seem to have an ire for students themselves, diagnosing the problem as the financial ambition of the University, but it can be argued that students are a symptom of this.
Although historically the West End has always been a well-established neighbourhood, tenement houses were built in Glasgow to house the growing number of workers who came to the city for its growing industry. Because of this, tenements are sought-after housing for students and West-enders alike; a trendy wealth signifier with high ceilings and Victorian windows.
Some argue, though, that students have a right to the West End as it was built around Gilmorehill, Glasgow University’s main campus. But that is simply not true. The University was originally located near Glasgow Cathedral on the East side. The institution moved to Gilmorehill Campus in 1870, which was after the Gibson family’s development of the countryside we now know as the West End.
However, students are not gentrifiers in the traditional sense. Students don’t represent a single class but different backgrounds and nationalities. The student body cannot fit into the class hierarchy that the UK has been built on; nevertheless, students represent a part of the community.
Dr Irma Booyens, who specialises in tourism studies at Strathclyde University with a pHD in human geography, introduced me to the term ‘Studentification’: “What we look at when we see what’s happening in Glasgow and many major UK cities with prestigious universities is studentification instead of gentrification.” She goes on to explain that the influx of students creates a demand which inevitably changes the landscape. Dr Booyens also suggested that it is the businesses and councils that allow development that are the gentrifiers, not the students. “When we look at an area, it is hard to tangibly track when a place has been ‘studentified’, but we see more accommodation, fast food places, and bars.”
The University sector financial crisis is also crucial to ‘studentification’. The Scottish Government funds a certain number of free tuition for Scottish students and makes up for lost fees through international students. However, international student numbers are down, student visa requirements are getting stricter, and people are worried about immigration. It’s getting hostile. When asked what might encourage the university to aggressively expand, Dr Booyens said. “We have to ask whether this business model [free tuition] is sustainable and whether international students are being exploited. It is quite a complex issue.”
The issue, as usual, is money. We are seeing universities scrap whole courses because there is no funding, whether from tuition or the government. If the university were to close due to low numbers, it would severely affect the city, as well as the thousands of students who are educated and the hundreds of faculty who earn their living. But is that the case here? Is the university rolling in the cash while residents and students are living top to tail? Should the Scottish Government cap the amount of profit universities can make to promote sustainable development of the city? Should the Scottish Government fund more free tuition spaces? There seems to be no clear solution. The one thing I do know is that, regardless of the transient population, students are crucial to the West End and Glasgow. While students do need specialised real estate, they are embedded in the bedrock of this city. The fact that residents have a right to defend the communal spaces we all share and that students should continue to be accommodated can both be true. The slogan ‘People Make Glasgow’ can be seen everywhere on bikes and buildings, and I believe that is true for everyone.
