NEW DELHI: The recent tragedy in Delhi where students living in unorganised environments lost lives in a building collapse has underlined the need to move towards a regulated, institutionalised student housing ecosystem, experts said.India today has over 43 million higher education students, yet organised student housing serves less than 0.5% of total enrolments. "Millions of migrant students are therefore left relying on unorganised facilities that often operate without standardised building codes, regular structural audits or adequate fire safety compliance," said Anshuman Magazine, chairman & CEO, India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE.To regularise and scale safe student accommodation, authorities and urban planners can adopt a comprehensive policy approach."Recognising professionally managed student accommodation as a distinct real estate asset class would allow for unified safety certifications, space per bed norms and single window municipal licensing. Integrating student housing into urban master plans through Transit-Oriented Development corridors, by permitting higher Floor Area Ratio and mixed-use zoning near metro lines and major university clusters, would also make structurally compliant, organised housing financially viable for developers and accessible for students," Magazine said.Encouraging Public-Private Partnerships through Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer frameworks could further help educational institutions modernise hostel infrastructure without straining institutional capital.Experts said that setting transparent regulatory standards and unlocking organised investment will bridge the demand supply deficit, while ensuring safe, high quality and resilient living environments for students across the country.