Student Hostel Allocation System

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

In 1912, in Altena Castle in Germany, Richard Schirrmann created the first permanent Jugendherberge or “Youth Hostel”. These first Youth Hostels were an exponent of the ideology of the German Youth Movement to let poor city youngsters breathe fresh air outdoors. The youths were supposed to manage the hostel themselves as much as possible, doing chores to keep the costs down and build character as well as being physically active outdoors. Because of this, many Youth Hostels closed during the middle part of the day.

There are several differences between hostels and hotels, including:

Hostels tend to be budget-oriented; rates are considerably lower, and many hostels have programs to share books, DVDs and other items.

For those who prefer an informal environment, hostels do not usually have the same level of formality as hotels.

For those who prefer to socialize with their fellow guests, hostels usually have more common areas and opportunities to socialize. The dormitory aspect of hostels also increases the social factor.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The growing number of students in higher institutions all over the world has posed a lot of accommodation problem on the part of students and school management. Students at the beginning of each session waste half of the semester looking for accommodation. The few hostels that exist in the universities are not properly managed. Statistics of the number of rooms required to match the growing number of students are far fetched. Most often, students pay for hostel fee and end up not getting one due to lack of bed space. Hostel administrators can not give accurate information of the occupancy of a particular room. These and many more forms the statement of the problem that necessitated this research work.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The project is designed to help in the management of hostel allocation in the university. The main objective of the new system includes:

Design and develop a central database system that would serve as hostel database, which will contain information on all the available rooms in the hostels.

Design a computer – driven hostel allocation system for allocating hostel rooms to students.

To generate reports on hostel occupancy and financial reports.

1.4 Scope of the Study

The research work is will cover among other things:

Hostel allocation

Hostel fee payment

Hostel rooms registration

Financial reports.

The research will be carried out using caritas university, Amorji Enugu.

1.5 Limitations

Some of the constraints encountered during this project design include the following:

Financial Constraints:

The design was achieved but not without some financial involvements. One had to pay for the computer time. Also the typing and planning of the work has its own financial involvements.

High programming Technique:

The programming aspect of this project posed a lot of problematic bugs that took me some days to solve. Problems such database connections using visual basic and access database posed a lot of challenges.

Few Literature Sources:

The topic though seems to be a common term; it is not a popular topic to surf from the Internet. It had fewer literature sources.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The new system designed for computer driven student’s hostel allocation will among other things:

Facilitate timely allocation of hostel rooms to students

Check the hostels occupancy at any time for information management

Sum up the total amount realized from hostels fee each session

Enable management to plan on improving hostel living condition.

Have first hand information on the statistics of students in the hostel.

1.7 Project Report Organisation

This project was covered under six stages:

Chapter 1. deals with the introduction. The background of the project is discussed. The objectives of the project, its significance, scope, and constraints are pointed out.

A brief history of the Nigerian police and review of literature on computer forensic expert System are subject matter of Chapter 2.

Chapter 3. Discusses system Investigation and Analysis. It deals with detailed investigation and analysis of the existing system and problem identification.

Chapter 4. Treats the system design and implementation

Chapter 5. summary and conclusion

1.8 Definition of Terms

Hostel:

A hostel or youth hostels is essentially a form of accommodation that offers reasonably priced, shared accommodation to travellers in either private or dormitory rooms.

A management information system (MIS):

Is a system that provides information needed to manage organizations effectively.

Independent hostels:

Are not necessarily affiliated with one of the national bodies of Hostelling International, Youth Hostels Association or any other licensing body.

Databases:

A systematically arranged collection of computer data, structured so that it can be automatically retrieved or manipulated. It is also called databank.

Computer Program:

This is a set of instruction that guides the computer on the action to perform.

Flowchart:

This is graphical representation of step by step by which computer can follow to execute a task.