The ‘sticky campus’ is about creating a holistic approach to students experience and satisfaction, encouraging students to remain engaged and active on campus academically and socially. By creating a campus where students feel like they belong, feel like part of a community and can find places and spaces where they feel comfortable and have all their needs catered for then they are likely to remain, not because they have to but because they want to.
The university experience is more than intellectual development, improved career prospects and salaries; going to university is about a student’s social and emotional development.
By providing a campus framework for both academic and emotional support universities help students’ mental health and wellbeing and help students flourish both academically and socially.
A Holistic view of University Campuses
To creating a ‘sticky campus’, an ever-evolving place of academic and social interaction, we take a holistic view of a campus.
Universities need spaces that encourage collaboration and discussion, that are flexible and well networked, that combine individual reflection with academic support through a range of formal and informal learning activities. Alongside this focus on learning they also need places that are more playful and encourage them to speak out, explore new ideas and experiment – learning from workplace environments like Google.
Supportive interior learning environments
Internally they need to support a range of both formal and informal learning environments that encourage students to work together collaboratively but also allow all students to find a place where they feel comfortable. While some students may thrive in a lively, noisy hub of creativity others may find this overwhelming and look to be on the periphery, still being part of the group while preserving their sense of personal space. Rather than providing equality, where everyone is given the same thing, the sticky campus is focused on giving everyone the spaces and places they personally need to be comfortable to give them parity and equity.
This fluid approach not only needs to provide students with access to a wide range of learning environments and materials 24/7 but also needs to cater for much broader student needs – unlimited Wi-Fi, places to charge their many devices, access to good coffee and a range of food outlets as well as greater links with employers through on-site business parks and opportunities for startups.
Promoting a healthier and more vibrant University experience
This holistic environment extends beyond the lecture theatre to promote a healthier, more vibrant way of life. By creating a thoughtful hierarchy of external spaces throughout a campus students can take learning beyond the classroom, engage with nature, the local environment and wider local community to create that broader student experience.
Our mantra, ’Thoughtful design to make better places for people’ is central to this idea of the sticky campus that is designing for the human experience.
