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Assessment of the 2023 campus surveyFirst Steps Towards Nicer Campus
19 November 2024, by Newsroom editorial office
Photo: Universität Hamburg / von Wieding
Students enjoy their free time on the ENZI furniture and the hammocks at Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld.
Photo: University of Hamburg/Esfandiari
In Jungiusstraße, student working areas and group study rooms have been set up.
Photo: University of Hamburg/Esfandiari
In Bundestraße, there is a new city bike station.
Photo: Universität Hamburg / von Wieding
The ENZI furniture is popular with students.
Photo: University of Hamburg/Esfandiari
There are 7 new street lights to illuminate formerly “dark spots.”
Photo: University of Hamburg/Esfandiari
In the East Wing of the Main Building at Edmund-Siemers-Allee, the OASE meeting place has officially opened.
Photo: University of Hamburg/Esfandiari
Students will plant the new wood planters with wild flowers.
Photo: University of Hamburg/Esfandiari
There are a lot of ENZI pieces on the Von-Melle-Park campus.
In Summer 2023, students had the opportunity to take part in a survey of their daily experiences at the various University locations. How do they perceive their surroundings? How do they use indoor and outdoor spaces? What needs to be improved? Based on the results, the first steps are being taken to improving campus life.
Roughly 700 students took part in the survey conducted a year ago on behalf of the University of Hamburg. At the same time, around 30 students acted as “campus scouts” and recorded their daily campus lives, noting everything that struck them as positive or negative. The goal was to identify the most important projects for improving campus locations. To reach these goals, the participating students contributed more than 5,000 comments and took over 160 photos of places in need of improvement. Everything was subject to evaluation.
Desire for better classrooms and places to study
Overall, students could evaluate 6 areas in the survey: “Community and Belonging,” “Classrooms and Places to Study,” “Social and Green Spaces,” “Safety,” “Orientation and Connection,” and “Infrastructure and IT.” Students commented especially in the category “Classrooms and Places to Study.” Many of them, they said, had to study in cafés and student dining halls because there were not enough places to study quietly. In addition to more quiet spaces, students also wanted more spaces for interacting and green spaces: “There are not enough places where you can hang out when you don’t have lectures or just want to kill time. In the summer, the outdoor area of the campus helps a lot, but in winter, it is mostly the libraries that provide a retreat,” according to one commenter. Many students also want greater orientation and connection on campus. Above all, they criticized the difficulty of finding rooms.
First steps already taken
Since the results of the survey have become clear, the Campus Development Section has already taken steps at various locations to meet the students’ needs. Together with AStA and the Sustainability Office, the courtyard at Von-Melle-Park 5 has been redesigned. There are now places to sit and planters made of wood that students will plant with wild flowers.
Furthermore, the University’s technical services have set up 7 street lamps to illuminate “dark spots” that surveyed students identified as poorly lit. In Bundestrasse, there is a new city bike station and new bike racks and in Jungiusstraße student working areas and group work rooms have been set up. In the East Wing of the Main Building at Edmund-Siemers-Allee, the OASE meeting place has officially opened. At Von-Melle-Park, in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld, and in Bundestraße, there are new ENZI furnishings that seem well-used and popular with students.
More projects underway
“Our urban campus locations are unique research and innovation centers as well as dynamic places of learning and exchange where urgent questions of the day can be discussed and explored. The large-scale campus survey was a crucial step towards documenting our students’ experiences and ideas. The success of things like the ENZI furniture already show that we are on the right path. Together with students, we are now working on creating further innovative spaces, because a University of Excellence needs excellent places to inspire learning, research, and interdisciplinary exchange,” said the University’s president, Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren.
The question of funding remains unclear for a few projects, but others are already underway. For example, in the Jungiusstraße, a “green lecture hall” with wooden steps to sit on is under construction. There are plans for new lobbies and places to study at other locations. There will also be a new system for providing orientation on campus.
More measures will follow to improve campus life for students. The topic areas and findings from the survey will provide a blueprint.
