The results obtained from documentary review within ten (10) years of existence of ARU (i.e. 1996-2006) show that the then University College of Lands and Architectural Studies (UCLAS) increased the number of undergraduate academic programmes from six (6) to thirty nine (39) during the period. As a result of these changes, students’ enrolment increased from only 400 in 1996 to about 1400 in 2007. When UCLAS became a fully-fledged university Schools were established. Student’s enrollment increased to 1537 undergraduate students in academic year 2008/2009. Student’s population steadily rose to 4107 in the academic year 2015/16. Of these, 1492 (36.3%) were females while 2615 (63.7%) were male students. Surprisingly, the hostels for undergraduate students at ARU have remained the same in terms of number and capacity/size to accommodate students. To this end, only 530 (12.7%) of undergraduate students get accommodation. The shortage of students’ accommodation has further been magnified by the fact that there has been a consistent expansion of student enrolment following the increase in the number of academic programmes. These scenarios are depicted in Table 1.

As of 2016/2017, the Ardhi University had a total population of 4068 undergraduate students (Figure 1) of whom males were 2522 (62%) while females were 1546 (38%). As already hinted earlier on, ARU has the capacity to accommodate only 530 (12.7%) of the undergraduate students population, whereas 232 (9.2%) are males and 286 (18.5%) are females (Table 2). Worth emphasizing, student’s accommodation needs at ARU will continue to grow with the expansion of student enrolment. On one hand, ARU has been growing in terms of quantitative indicators signaled by a steady increase in the number of student’s enrollment. Tragically, the increase has not been concurrently matching with the expansion

Source: [28] .

of halls of residence. Currently, the criteria for room allocation at ARU is as indicated on Table 3.

The findings indicate that, all hostel rooms in-campus are 3 m × 3 m × 2.7 m big in volume, enough light, enough ventilation, 100% indoor comfort if well utilized and is provided with enough shared toilet. Nonetheless, the university

Source: Dean of Student’s Office, 2017.

Source: [29] .

hostel has encountered some challenges caused by overpopulation. Initially, the rooms were designed for a maximum of two students and on top of that, the rooms had two wardrobes, two single beds, and two working tables. Nevertheless, due to the increase in student’s population, the number had doubled to four students per room. To accommodate this number, the two single beds were replaced with two bunk beds. Other supporting services such as toilets, power and sewage were not redesigned to cater for the increase in the number of students. This situation has endangered students’ hygiene, security and retard their academic efficiency as highlighted by [30] . To mitigate the challenges, students have resorted to taking turns in using the fewer facilities available in the rooms compared to the increase in the demand of those facilities.

The findings revealed that lack of the on-campus accommodation differently impacted on gender groups. While 67% female students could not work on their projects after classes at the university because they feared for their safety back to their off-campus rooms, 88% male students were capable of working long night hours at the University without any fear of being attacked on their way back to their off-campus accommodation. Instead, approximately 72% of female and 52% of male students were highly affected by the high costs of living outside the campus. Again, 62% female and 33% male students were affected by the noise pollution. Moreover, 80% female and 77% male students were not well secured in off-campus rooms. Additionally, 87% female and 67% male students were vulnerable to communicable diseases. More to say, 73% female and 21% male students had social problems with the families in which they we living. The reasons for drop out among the males were related primarily with lack fund to support their academic life, while female drop out was related to poor performance due to combination of social factors (lack of funds, prostitution, rape, safety and security etc.) and the living environment.

The aspect of students accommodation based on gender in public universities of Tanzania has been a subject of research. To that effect, a number of researchers have addressed this controversial topic, these include: [5] [32] and [33] . These scholars contend that public universities in Africa face shortage of accommodation, therefore, students find alternative accommodation outside or around the university campus. Despite the increase in the number of private firms engaged in bridging the gaps of shortage of student accommodation, in-campus accommodation is still a problematic issue.

Globally, there has been an increase in the number of students’ enrolment in higher learning institutions [34] [35] . This is because in the last decades, many countries have been investing on high education and also emphasizing the access to education as part of the basic rights [36] . Globalization and the development of science and technology have led to the emergence and introduction of new academic programmes and encourage more students to join the universities [37] . Reference [35] has reported that the rate of students’ enrolment has increased from 14% to 32% in two decades.

Besides, it has been noted that there has been higher enrolment at the higher learning education in countries such as China, India, US and Brazil [38] . Nonetheless, the increase in the enrolment has not been matching with the existing student accommodation. Having enough accommodation is a critical important issue, which should be considered by any responsive university [34] . He also noted that having quality and good accommodation or housing promotes the psychological gratification and leisure. Further, [5] [18] [39] , and, [40] closely linked the absence or availability and the qualities of accommodation to students’ academic performance.

Despite the problem of fewer student accommodations, still, universities tend to enroll more students than should otherwise been the case [37] [41] , and [42] distinguished that South Africa faced student accommodation crisis while the government and the university in particular were not finding the new alternative to deal with the problem. Reference [43] also came up with similar findings indicating that in Tanzania, despite the fact that the current government has started constructing new hostels in the University of Dar es Salaam, nothing has been done if comparison is made with the existing demand of students’ accommodation. He added that the University of Dar es Salaam has been increasing students’ enrolment each academic year while the number of students’ hostels has remained unchanged.

To ensure the proper allocation of the existing student accommodation, universities have developed different criteria used in room allocation. These criteria include: disabilities, student organization leaders, first year students and foreign student [28] . In Tanzania, universities have different accommodation policies but with some striking commonalities. Taking the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) as a case in point, students with special medical care needs, and continuing female and male students from upcountry and student in clinical year are prioritized [44] .

It is also noted by [45] that even the rooms and hostels are not user friendly for some of the groups, which are given the priority for room allocation. Additionally, some of the rooms and hostels lack facilities for disabled people and they are characterized by poor public transport [45] . The infrastructure around the hostels e.g. toilets, bathrooms, stairs and narrow paths are also not good to allow easy movement of the disabled [27] .

According to [46] the accommodation challenges faced by universities have led to many students opting for off-campus accommodation. Nonetheless, the off-campus environments are generally not good for students’ life and academic performance [46] [47] . In most of the developing countries, the surrounding environment are characterized by crimes, insecurity, noise, theft and poor public transport, particularly in those universities located in the big cities [48] . Therefore, off-campus students often face these challenges. Likewise, [48] have pointed out that in the University of Johannesburg, students faced transport challenges. They use more time waiting for transport and travelling from the halls of residence. Off-campus rooms and facilities also are not user friendly for students, especially those who are taking engineering, medical and science courses [14] .

It is also noted that off-campus life is more expensive compared to in-campus. For instance, the payment for renting a room, water, electricity as well as cleaning services of the surrounding environment is considerably high. The situation is better for in-campus students, they happen to enjoy some of the services like cleaning services surrounding the environment since these are usually catered for by the institution in question. However, despite the challenges they face in this type of accommodation hostels are affordable [9] . Supportively, [46] added that in South Africa in-campus students easily access the existing and free facilities provided by their institutions compared to off-campus students. He insisted that it is easy to form social and discussion groups as well as attending different gatherings organized by the university even in the evening hours for in-campus students. Equally importantly, staying off-campus impacts more the female students than the male counterparts. Confirming that [14] have reported that off-campus female students have been facing multifaceted personal/psychological, social, economic, and educational problems. They also noted that for female students, getting a room or an apartment outside the university was a tough job. This is because the house owners prefer to rent their houses to male students than the females [14] . Reference [9] brings to attention that a similar situation is faced in Uganda and particularly at Makerere University, where the female students who stay off-campus encounter a lot of challenges. The challenges include inability to attend evening courses or using the extra time in the library, insecurity (such as robbery) and rape. Students have also been engaging in immoral activities in order to get money, which could make them afford very high living and accommodation payment [9] . Reference [15] also raised similar arguments that in Kenya, female students who stay off-campus are more exposed to Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual Harassment (SH) which sometimes impacts their career and health. In a similar note, [49] have recommended measures to address GBV and SH for female students (both in-campus and off-campus) for the purpose of providing safer environment in most African universities.