Island Council launches study into housing difficulties faced by Fuerteventura students studying away from the island

Fuerteventura Island Council, through its Education and Youth Service, has launched a study to gain a detailed understanding of the housing situation of residents who have to leave Fuerteventura to continue their studies. The initiative will provide data on the costs students face, the difficulties of finding accommodation and possible measures to help ease the problem.

On Monday, students studying away from the island were invited to take part in an anonymous questionnaire. The results will be analysed collectively. The aim is to build as accurate a picture as possible of a situation that affects many young people from Fuerteventura and their families each academic year.

Fuerteventura Island Council president Lola García stressed the importance of “listening directly to those experiencing this situation and having data that allows us to assess the scale of the problem”. García noted that studying away from the island is already a significant financial effort for many families, “on top of an increasingly complex housing market and expenses that can end up affecting whether students are able to continue their studies”.

The questionnaire covers the cost of finding and maintaining accommodation, the expenses students face while staying away from Fuerteventura, and the main difficulties they encounter when trying to secure housing. It will also gather students’ views on measures that could help improve their situation.

Adargoma Hernández, the councillor for Education, Youth and Water, said the study “will allow us to move from perceptions to concrete data and find out first-hand how much it is costing students from Fuerteventura to study away from the island”. Hernández said the intention was for the information gathered to be put to practical use, so that “we can take proposals and possible solutions, grounded in the reality our students are experiencing, to the standing working group established within FECAI”.

The Education Department is therefore encouraging as many Fuerteventura residents as possible who are currently studying away from the island to take part. Greater participation will provide a more representative picture of the situation and the needs involved.