Applying to Halls

The University has eight Halls of Residence at the Craighall Campus. There is accommodation available for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. To be considered for a place in the halls you must meet certain criteria which is outlined below.

Criteria for Halls of Residence

We can only issue a lease tenancy agreement for QMU halls of residence if :

OR

You have applied to study at QMU as an International fee paying student
You are a national of a country outwith the UK and member states of the EU
You are accepted by Queen Margaret University as an "International" applicant
Your application is for a full time course of study
You have FIRMLY accepted an Unconditional academic offer (although you can apply whilst holding a conditional offer as explained below)

OR

You are an "Exchange","Study Abroad", "Erasmus" or "Socrates" student
Your application is for a full time course of study
You have FIRMLY accepted an Unconditional academic offer

Receipt of Applications – Please apply early !

Although we have no official deadline for receipt of halls applications we do strongly advise that you apply as early as possible to avoid disappointment. All tenancy agreements commence on Friday 3 rd September 2010, although term does not officially begin until Monday 20 th September 2010 for most courses. If you apply late (i.e. after 3 rd September 2010) we will be happy to process your application assuming that we still have room availability.

If you have received an unconditional offer to study at QMU you can apply for student halls and we will be able to process your application and issue you with a tenancy agreement as soon as you have firmly accepted your offer (assuming that we have room availability).

If you have received a conditional offer from QMU you can apply for student halls although we won’t be able to process your application until you have been given an unconditional offer and you have firmly accepted the offer. Any halls applications that we receive for students in possession of a conditional offer will be dated and held on record until your offer becomes unconditional at which point we will issue your tenancy agreement (assuming that we have room availability).

If you receive a late offer to study at QMU please do not assume that there will be no vacancies in QMU student halls – it is always worth checking availability with the accommodation office as occupancy rates vary from year to year and some people inevitably withdraw from halls within the first few weeks of term, creating vacancies for others.

Allocation Policy

Our allocation policy is designed to offer the limited number of places in University accommodation as fairly as possible - based upon our knowledge and experience accumulated over the years. Inevitably there will be applicants who fall just on the wrong side of some of our priority categories and will fail to gain a place in Halls as a result of this. There will be others who meet all the conditions for priority, but for whom we sadly find that we have simply run out of space. We hope that you will appreciate the necessity for such categories and boundaries - although ultimately we retain the right to make such variations at our discretion.

It is important that you understand that the demographic profile of applicants varies from year to year and that we may not be able to meet all the requests for Queen Margaret University accommodation. All applicants should bear in mind that it may therefore be necessary to travel to Edinburgh at the last minute, before the start of the Academic Year, to inspect and personally assess the suitability of the Halls of Residence or private accommodation. Decisions regarding the allocation of University accommodation are in large, made only after the publication of the majority of exam results in August. It is inevitable that some applicants will be disappointed because our Halls are full. This only leaves a short amount of time to view alternatives and it is therefore extremely important that you ensure that you have both the time and resources to travel to Edinburgh to look at alternatives (maybe as late as the start of September) if we cannot offer you a place in halls. August and September may not therefore be the best time to be away on holiday and we would ask you to bear this in mind.

Students with Disabilities

Queen Margaret University welcomes students with disabilities and we aim to provide you with all the help and support we can. If you are thinking about coming to QMU, and you have any special needs or requirements in terms of accommodation, please contact Jo Jebb , our Disability Officer on tel: 0131 474 0000 so that we can take these into account in allocating rooms. If you have a medical assessment of any disability, a copy of this would also be useful.

If you require any further assistance or information, please do not hesitate to contact Accommodation Office or tel: +44 (0) 131 474 0000 and ask for 'accommodation'.

Application form
Please download, complete and return the following » Application Form by post to:

Student Accommodation Office
Student Residences
Queen Margaret University , Edinburgh
Musselburgh
East Lothian
EH21 6UD

Other accommodation

For those students who we are unable to accommodate in student halls, or those wishing to live off campus, you can find details of privately owned Accommodation in Edinburgh and the Musselburgh area, (both flats and rooms within student flats) on the Studentpad Website .

For more information
Contact: Accommodation Office or tel: +44 (0) 131 474 0000 and ask for 'accommodation'.