When it comes to assessing the return on investing in higher education, institutions evaluate through the lens of financial viability, while students measure value in terms of the total “cost” (i.e., tuition, time, opportunity cost, family considerations and overall well-being) to attend school. From all angles — and all education levels, for that matter — the rapidly changing landscape is fueling renewed skepticism around the value of higher education. 

But amid all the change, there’s a constant truth: education and training have the most potential to shape our future. Cultivated knowledge and skilled trades do, in fact, offer pathways to personal and financial prosperity. Our willingness and ability to respond to education trends and anticipate future possibilities will impact not only the ecosystem of education, but society overall.

That’s why, now more than ever, we’re challenged to think differently about designing learning environments. As the higher education landscape embraces a unique inflection point, it’s our responsibility to rethink the way we design campus spaces — and the behaviors they influence — to deliver the value students, educators and institutions expect. 

Here’s what our experts have to say about how to do that for the six major campus typologies: 

Campuswide planning 

Plan with uncertainty using interrelated data that provides actionable, real-time insights at all scales.  

• De-conflate interconnected trends. 
• Correlate the performance of systems, campuses, buildings and individual spaces to the most valuable outcomes (e.g., equity, health, learning, community, etc.) rather than traditional benchmarks. 
• Connect all major work steps in one decision-making tool and use visual storyboarding to tell the story.
  

Student life 

Build an ecosystem of wellness that delivers student support at every level.  

• Design spaces throughout each building type that foster wellness, community and collaboration among diverse populations. 
• Empower student success with easy access to vital resources and services, from counseling to basic needs support.  
• Implement trauma-informed design and effective planning to create spaces that promote de-escalation and emotional regulation. 
  

Science and technology 

Re-think the fundamentals of STEM education and how they will support the future of discovery. 

• Promote interdisciplinary learning spaces that help students align their academic pursuits with job market needs and opportunities.  
• Design multipurpose spaces that support innovation, advanced research and expanding partnerships between academia and industry.  
• Explore modular design elements that allow learning and teaching to keep pace with artificial intelligence and machine learning.
  

Health education 

Appeal to a diversified future healthcare workforce who will think, learn and train differently. 

• Design spaces that support interprofessional education in simulated team-based learning environments. 
• Create flexible medical learning spaces that endure the impact of AI on the future of education and practice.  
• Embrace the future medical student who will expect to co-create their individualized learning and training experiences. 
  

Recreation and wellness 

Create a campus where student well-being thrives. 

• Reimagine training facilities to focus on both physical and mental health.  
• Seek opportunities to create spaces of respite and decompression throughout buildings of all types and scales. 
• Craft hybrid facilities that blend recreation and health spaces, driving holistic student wellness.
  

Academic libraries 

Re-invest in the library as the intellectual heart of campus.  

• Identify campus partners to expand library and academic service offerings rather than re-purposing library space for other campus functions. 
• Implement alternate programming sequences that make resources more visible to students. 
• Leverage the library’s power of place to significantly contribute to recruitment, retention and campus culture.