Management of college dorms has to be improved

Some colleges students in Beijing have been found to be renting their dormitory beds to people outside the campus via websites, such as Ganji.com and 58.com.

Some colleges students in Beijing have been found to be renting their dormitory beds to people outside the campus via websites, such as Ganji.com and 58.com. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Thursday:

Unlike their counterparts in the West who have the freedom to live where they want, Chinese college students are often asked to stay in dormitory rooms which they share with three or five others. It is no surprise that those students who dislike sharing a room with others and prefer to live outside the campus are willing to "rent" their dormitory beds to others to make some money.

However, the beds are the property of the colleges and so the students have no right to rent them to others. Also students should not rent their beds because of security concerns.

True, many students are away from campus during summer and winter breaks, and are willing to make the most of their vacant beds, which the colleges exclusively offer registered students. But even putting the security risks aside, the students who share the rooms may not be happy about such deals made without their consent.

That some students still rent out their beds, although they are forbidden to do so, has a lot to do with lax dormitory management. Many college dormitories can be entered freely, and even those that require student cards are far from foolproof, because some "bed renters" will rent their cards as well.

Therefore, colleges have to strengthen their security checks, especially when an increasing number of them have opened their campuses to the public.

On the one hand, colleges should provide rooms with different numbers of beds to meet different needs and allow students to choose where they want to live. On the other hand, they could, under proper management, rent temporarily unused dormitory rooms to those in need and use the money to renovate campus facilities.