Four key considerations for your next college campus project
First impressions are everything to prospective students and their visiting families. Academic environments, support spaces, and amenities once they’re enrolled are crucial to their success. As student needs and trends evolve, college campuses must be flexible and adaptable.
Here are four key considerations for your next campus project:
ENJOYABLE CAMPUS EXPERIENCE
It’s important that students, faculty, and visitors have an enjoyable experience when on campus beginning with their arrival. The journey through the campus can be positively or negatively affected by a multitude of variables including wayfinding, landscaping, parking, traffic flow, and campus layout. Due to an increased demand for multidisciplinary degrees, it’s also essential for universities to support interdepartmental synergies and provide increased opportunities for shared space utilization.
The Missouri University of Science and Technology lacked a clear main entry to their campus. The Arrival District provides S&T a new ‘front door’ fitting of its academic representation with the associated landscaping and building improvements, creating a simpler and safer experience. The creation of this district directly addresses the university’s recruitment challenges. The experience of arrival will be memorable, and the community center serves students with programs activities and facilities that complement the educational experience.
THE ‘WOW’ FACTOR
Recruitment marks the first step in increasing enrollment numbers at any university, and it all starts with relationships and culture. A key component of recruitment is engaging with prospective students by hosting campus visits and events. Universities need to be innovative when it comes creating their wow factor and making a lasting impression with their visitors.
At the University of Kansas, the Jayhawk Welcome Center leverages cutting-edge technology to make prospective students feel like they’re already a part of the KU family. Through immersive 360 videos, powerful imagery and interactive LED video displays, the new space tells a powerful story illustrating the incomparable KU experience and what it truly means to be a Jayhawk.
COLLABORATION ACROSS DEPARTMENTS & COLLEGES
All students have unique career paths after graduating from academic institutions. As universities strive to ensure students’ success in the future, they need to provide a broader education. Blending curriculum from multiple degree programs focuses on collaboration and provides students with an interdisciplinary approach to education. This multifaceted approach supports the mission to recruit and retain top-tier faculty and develop future leaders through world-class education.
The Raven Precision Agriculture Center at South Dakota State University is the first in the nation to offer degrees in precision agriculture, which integrates agricultural engineering, plant science, computer programming and global positioning
technologies to increase agricultural efficiency and productivity. This initiative provides students with an opportunity to earn a multidisciplinary degree and they are prepared for broad career options.
REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE
When modernizing campus buildings, it’s important to focus on current and future needs. In recent years, we’ve seen an increase for hands-on learning opportunities and collaborative partnerships with industry-leading companies. Students are more prepared for the ever-changing environments they will be faced with in their future careers by gaining hands-on, real-world experience.
POET, a global leader in the production of bioproducts, partnered with South Dakota State University, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to build the POET Bioproducts Institute, an innovation center for the development of high-quality bioproducts. The facility will allow for research collaboration on the next generation of bioproducts and provide students with courses in bioprocessing and value-added agriculture.
Learn more about the benefits of hands-on learning in higher education.
Planning a project on your campus? Reach out to our higher education experts.
