Axiom

Unipol Student Homes is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Netlet Holdings Ltd to enable the tried and tested Unipol Accommodation Bureau Technology to be rolled out into any higher education institution in the UK.

The technology allows University Accommodation Departments to efficiently co-ordinate properties in the private sector and University accommodation for students. Users are able to search the database in a number of different ways including via post code, rent, location as well as 45 other criteria. The site will also carry a fully updated full advice and welfare section that will allow for local and regional information to be inserted.

The official Launch of the Netlet product will take place at a seminar attended by Staff of Higher Educational Institutions on November 1st 2002 at the Hilton Hotel in York.

In Leeds, Unipol's own web site is very popular and received 8.5 million hits last year. A “Student to Student” notice board, allowing students to find rooms between themselves, received in excess of 250,000 messages. A similar model operates very successfully in Manchester and Liverpool running Netlet Licensed technology.

Unipol Chief Executive Martin Blakey said:

“We are delighted to enter into this arrangement with a new company who we are confident can improve and build on the work we have done over the last few years. Our model can be taken to the next level and be offered to institutions across the UK at an extremely low cost. As well as rebuilding the technology Netlet have been working on innovative new services that will allow property owners to manage their portfolio on-line and future service will include on-line booking and virtual touring.

As the number of students studying in higher education continues to grow, the importance of interfacing institutional accommodation choices with private sector suppliers have never been more important. Anyone who has had students in hotels this year has failed to get this interface right.”

Netlet Chief Executive Andrew Lazare said “Having researched this market place for over 12 months it became apparent that accommodation bureaus can only be successful if property information is accurate, current and promoted on a local basis. We chose Unipols system, which embraces partnership with institutions, consistently achieved a high volume of accurate, current property information as well as facilitating a high degree of student interaction.

We are relishing the opportunity to work with Higher Educational Institutions across the country and have already received some very positive feedback to our ideas and suggestions. With our technology already licensed to 12 institutions we are confident that this service can assist institutions in meeting their student’s expectations.

We are also the exclusive provider of accommodation to NUS on-line. Our accommodation will feature on this and it is also our intention to partner other like minded Student Lifestyle Channels to promote our services to student, prospective students and their parents.”