STUDENTS from the American University, Canterbury, are helping improve the image of accommodation provided by Porchlight.

Architecture and design students met Porchlight's strategic manager, Yusupha Tunkara, and architect Karl Elliott of Clague to pool ideas about how they could make the rooms more user-friendly.

The initiative is part of a summer programme giving the students the chance to use their skills on behalf of Porchlight, which provides supported accommodation for homeless people around Kent.

The international students had travelled from the university's home campus, Girne American University in Cyprus.