21st century campus: 5 ways for universities to get ready for the future of learning
Universities like to present themselves as especially old and venerable. Whereas tradition can be a good thing in terms of content quality, universities must never come to a halt. They have to keep modernising in order to maintain their position of leading educational and research institutions. This includes their solid setup just as well: It is crucial for modern universities to fit themselves into their societal environment for properly accomplishing their role and mission. Several universities have launched exemplary projects for creating campus environments that fit and enhance the urban development of the 21st century.
#1 Combine old and new
Great traditional institutions make their development visible on their campuses. So does the MIT (Massachusetts, USA): Its huge campus, that spans over an area of 68 hectare, displays diverse architectural styles including neoclassicism, modernism or deconstructivism. The monuments and halls represent the historic evolution of the university, its progress and its shifting foci. Thereby it demonstrates a stance of combining heritage and innovation in a visible manner.
#2 Integrate into the urban environment
Universities serve the mission of providing reliable and objective information for society, which makes them a pivotal public institution. Some universities hence create set ups that invite the public to enter and establish places for mutual interaction and learning. The California State University (California, USA) entertains for example the Valley Performing Arts Center on its area which has become a true cultural hub for the surrounding area, because it houses university facilities as well as a huge concert and performance hall.
#3 Upgrade with smart design
Libraries have the reputation of being dusty establishments, but several universities exemplify that the exact opposite is possible. The Library of the Tama Art University (Japan), which is first of all impressive due to its magnificent architecture, provides a common open space bringing together students from all faculties. It offers diverse possibilities and places with lots of natural light, as well as multimedia technology in order to immerse in one’s studies. Another spectacular installation is the University of Chicago’s Joe and Rika Mansueto Library (Illinois, USA): It is covered by a super modern elliptical glass dome which makes its appearance unique. Still, this is not even the most innovative feature it presents, because it is also equipped with an underground storage of a capacity of 3,5 million volumes and a fully automated storage and retrieval system, that allows retrieval within minutes.
#4 Build campus cities
Modern campus projects are expanding their reach big time so that actual university districts or small cities within the cities emerge. Projects around the world set high standards: The Asia Pacific University (Malaysia) combines auditoriums, technology and laboratories for studying in diverse disciplines, as well as a huge food court and roof gardens for recreation and sports. A similarly remarkable project was realized by the Vienna University of Business and Economics (Austria), where six renowned architect groups – including Zaha Hadid and Hitoshi Abe – from all around the world designed buildings for the campus and made it an open and welcoming place of diversity. Holding up a future-conscient attitude, the consistent paradigm is sustainability and energy efficiency.
#5 Dissolve the real-life campus – Go online!
The future of university is not to be found in an analogue context of real-life class and lecture attendances. It is all-over online. This facilitates access to tertiary education as it is made flexible and adaptable to anyone’s needs. Private companies like Future Learn offer an enormous variety of online classes and also an increasing number of universities provide online degrees, distance learning or free MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Digitalisation presents a truly revolutionary approach to education.