Campus Transformations and Student Preferences

Background and aim. This paper examines a university campus transformation through its supply of spaces. In recent years, many universities have invested in developing campus spaces to accommodate societal, pedagogical, and technological changes. Instead of the expansion of campuses, the focus has been on the transformation of premises. This study investigates whether the new or transformed spaces are represented in student preferences, thus implying their impact.

Methods. The study is three-fold. First, the teaching and learning spaces are categorized according to their condition (original, original/ extension, newbuilt, transformed). Secondly, the identified transformations are structured into types of adaptations (refurbished, repurposed, and retrofitted). Thirdly, the supply is compared with student preferences to evaluate if the recent developments are
presented in the preferences. The material consists of the plan analysis and the space allocation lists of a case university teaching and learning spaces, site visits, and a Soft-GIS questionnaire on preferred learning spaces conducted on the
case campus in 2018. The results are formulated on descriptive statistical analyses.

Results. The results show the extent of campus transformation and its transition towards adapting existing premises and their types. The students’ preferences highlight the recent teaching and learning space developments, indicating the developments meet users’ needs.

Originality. The extent of a campus transformation and its learning space supply are scarcely analysed systematically according to their condition nor compared with student preferences.

Practical or social implications. The results benefit sustainable development of facilities to meet the user needs.