As universities plan for campus improvements in 2020 and beyond, several trends are dominating the conversation, according to research conducted by several higher education professionals and Planon, global provider of Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) solutions for real estate and facility management professionals.
The discussion around the Campus of the Future has been building for years, and facilities professionals looking to align with their own university’s missions and overall strategies are focusing on these five trends in 2020:
- Delivering Actionable Insights: Delivering accurate real estate and facilities data is critical for universities looking to make the right decisions on space and maintenance with limited budgets. Universities are consolidating redundant and disbursed systems. They recognize the need for one integrated system to bring relevant data together in an overview that allows for actionable insight and faster decision-making.
- Improved reporting capabilities at every level – strategic, tactical and operational: Leadership teams must be able to communicate clearly about important university goals to all stakeholders – and stakeholders need to report to leadership how they contribute and perform. Universities are exploring how an integrated campus management system can drastically improve their information dashboards and reporting capabilities.
- Sustainability and future-proofing operations: Universities will feel continued pressure around how they can report on and contribute to the global sustainability goals in order to meet student expectations. Social responsibility and reputation, locally and globally, are critical to the future of a university.
- Campus access and safety: Facilities teams aim to improve work order response time and student safety and satisfaction with options like apps and kiosks to give students better access to facilities requests. As online learning programs continue to grow, universities must excel at accommodating commuting students and provide the right connectivity technologies, quality video conferencing services, and online security.
- Event planning and utilization of campus space: Campus facilities teams are experiencing an increase in the number of events, as well as a diversification in the type of events they manage. Facilities teams who can accurately track how their space is utilized can be more effective at reimagining and redesigning spaces to support changing diversity on campus.
For more information about campus management trends in 2020, check out the full higher education research report from Planon.