The venture follows the purpose-built student accommodation provider’s announced intention to raise up to £2billion to extend the company’s portfolio across Europe and globally.

The initial phase of the Italian investment will target the development of around 3,500 new state-of-the-art student bedrooms over the next three years.

“We’re experiencing unprecedented demand for high-quality accommodation throughout Europe”

The first project, a 700-bedroom residence in Milan, will be one of the first major PBSA developments in the city and responds to strong demand for high-quality accommodation in a place that has over 200,000 students – the vast majority of whom come from outside of Milan.

Eri Cuanalo, CEO of Collegiate said the company intends to set new standards in terms of quality, living environment and facilities in order to provide more choices to national and international students choosing to study across Italy.

“We’re experiencing unprecedented demand for our high-quality accommodation throughout Europe and are very excited to be entering this partnership with Proprium in Italy,” he said.

Javier Perez-Lecumberri from Proprium Capital Partners said that Italy is one of Europe’s top education destinations and “with such low provision levels of PBSA it makes it a logical market for us to enter”.

We look forward to building on this transaction to establish a sizeable student housing platform in Italy with such an experienced operator as Collegiate,” he added.