School of Design - University of Leeds’ Post

As campuses face evolving challenges, the design of the university environment is key to improving retention, fostering belonging, and maximizing space efficiency. By creating flexible, student-centric spaces and leveraging the city as an extension of the campus, universities can enhance the student experience and better align with their goals. Join Gensler’s Mark Thaler and Adam Griff in exploring how universities can rethink how space supports both students and institutional missions. https://lnkd.in/eiiJdzZu #CampusDesign #HigherEd #StudentExperience

Creating Comfortable Spaces: Empowering Students to Leave Their Mark 🏫✨ As architects, our mission extends beyond designing buildings; it's about crafting environments where students can thrive and truly make their mark. One of our guiding principles is ensuring that the spaces we create are not just aesthetically pleasing, but also evoke a sense of comfort and belonging for every child who enters. Research has shown that a comfortable learning environment can significantly impact student engagement and academic achievement (Johnson & Johnson, 2014). When students feel at ease in their surroundings, they are more likely to feel confident, motivated, and ready to learn. In a world that's constantly evolving, we believe it's essential for children to see themselves as the brilliant, capable individuals they are. Our aim is to provide them with spaces where they can explore, create, and grow, knowing that they are valued and supported every step of the way. One example of this is our larger than life 'Scrabble wall,' where children can freely express themselves and leave their mark for others to see. Can you spot their names they built? It's a special 'I was here' moment that celebrates each child's unique contribution to the learning environment. By prioritizing comfort and personalisation in our designs, we empower students to take ownership of their learning journey and embrace their potential to conquer the world. 🌟 #ComfortableSpaces #EmpoweringStudents #ArchitectureForEducation #StudentEngagement" Reference: Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2014). Cooperative learning and social interdependence theory. In International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 5, pp. 59-64). Elsevier.

As we head into 2025, it’s clear that campus design plays a crucial role in achieving institutional goals amidst economic and cultural shifts. In our latest dialogue Blog “The Campus as a Catalyst: Combining Student Needs With Institutional Goals” co-authored with my colleague Adam Griff, we outline key strategies for differentiating a university campus, improving student retention by enhancing their sense of belonging, and reimagining underutilized spaces to optimize real estate. Our insights, drawn from a panel of higher education leaders, highlight how intentional campus design can drive successful outcomes. Gensler #gensler #campusascatalyst #highereducation https://lnkd.in/eNPswfAT

The design of tomorrow's campuses is taking shape today. Read KI's latest blog, “Building Better Spaces”, to dive into the trends that will define higher education in 2025. https://bit.ly/3EuD5tq

The latest graduate outcomes survey reported the largest increase in employment rates *in the field of humanities* (up from 81.7% in 2021 to 86.6% in 2022). Median graduate salaries also jumped, sitting at $66,700 compared with sciences and mathematics at $66,000 and business and management $65,000.

People are the lifeblood of your business. Here's how we transformed the experience that UCL's employees have when performing actions that support and enrich their working lives: https://lnkd.in/e7DUNJ-4 #employeeexperience #design #engineering

This news filled my feed the past few days, and I just wanted to offer another perspective on the current state of the Royal College of Art. These rankings are based on reputation which is a lagging indicator of performance. And I think it lags by decades. The RCA's reputation is based on the lifetime work of designers & artists like David Hockney, James Dyson, Thomas Heatherwick, Tracy Emin, Ridley Scott, Barbara Hepworth, etc. I would suggest that this #1 ranking doesn't reflect the current damage done to the RCA studio model. It will take more time for this to be widely understood by other academics and employers, but I'm already hearing from people "I'm worried about my students going there for an MA, is it worth the money?" and "I used to be able to hire anyone from the RCA and they were brilliant, now I have to really do my homework and sift through a lot of work to find the good stuff." The RCA of the past that created this reputation no longer exists because of changes to the funding model, scaling of the student population, changes in teaching and evaluation, etc, etc. Some highlights of the past RCA: 5 staff for maybe 25 students on a course, and multiple weekly 1:1 tutorials with tutors, individual projects. On a two year MA you regularly spent time learning from the 2nd year students, or later sharing what you learned with 1st years... in this way there was a chain of culture and ideas and learning that could be traced all the way back over decades. You heard stories of other students who had been in the studio years before you, these stories were passed down like folklore. The acceptance rate into RCA courses was probably less than 10%, students failed out of the RCA if their work wasn't of a quality. There was no real curriculum, it was all practice based studio work, learning by doing under the close guidance of the master and tutors. Be given a brief, explore, design, get rigorous intense critique, repeat, all while living in this wider bubbling creative culture. Developing your own personal practice in a radical way. So what has changed? In the past 10 years, almost everything. The RCA today: 4 staff for 160+ students on a course. Most of the staff has turned over. Tutorials are run in large groups on group projects. The acceptance rate is probably over 80%, anyone can go to the RCA if they can pay. No one fails, because the RCA needs your student fees. MA's are now only 1 year long, so no overlapping of student years, all culture and generational knowledge is lost. RCA sends professors across the world to pitch and recruit students to pay the high fees to keep the company going. The social media machine has to hype the school to prospective students to keep the courses full. And the quality of the student work has suffered. I hope Christoph Lindner will see the painful realities of the current state, and make the radical changes needed before the current damage further impacts students, staff, and reputation.

Discover how Alcove Designs is reimagining the future of education with cutting-edge strategies for urban campus design. Our latest publication explores the integration of nature, advanced technology, and flexible spaces to create environments that inspire collaboration and creativity. These innovative designs are set to transform traditional campuses into dynamic hubs that not only support diverse learning styles, but also promote the well-being of students and faculty alike. Dive into the full document to explore our vision for the educational spaces of tomorrow.

Seems all I post is about these last several years' journey, but what a journey it has been! The article linked below details, far better than I have ever been able, the process to successful completion of this amazing project.

Daniel Elsea on campus planning: "Maybe it’s time to retire the campus plan as we have known it. In its place should be a more outward-looking type of plan where the often much more significant and complex issues pertaining to the university’s context are given just as much importance as to what has carefully been planned within." https://lnkd.in/ewSCPW4x