Space Utilization: Optimization Strategies for the Campus of the Future

Competition for student enrolment and institutional funding is at an all-time high in higher education. 

Your university or college’s space utilization – the way space on campus is used – is critical to attracting students, investment and long-term success overall.

Demographic trends are shifting, with the population of traditional college-aged students shrinking, so as the number of prospective students declines, there are fewer seats to be filled. The resulting battle among colleges and universities for a smaller slice of the enrolment pie gives students leverage to command a more favorable financial aid package, which in turn can perpetuate the divide among higher education institutions. Campuses with smaller endowments that rely heavily on tuition for operating expenses cannot afford to compete with institutions like Williams College, which is the first college in the US to eliminate loans and work requirements for student aid. If less financially secure institutions do try to match attractive offers from institutions like Williams College, they risk running budget deficits that can force closure or a merger.

With that said, it’s imperative colleges and universities take into account every possible way to secure a vibrant, sustainable future. One of these ways is improving space utilization, which reduces expenses through more efficient operations and overall use of space.

Read on for everything you need to know about campus space utilization.

Why Space Utilization Is Critical For Higher Ed

At its core, space utilization helps you determine whether space on your campus is being used to its fullest potential. This data-driven approach provides insight into when and how space is occupied, and the corresponding costs such as utilities and personnel. Having an understanding of these patterns will help you reorganize and reallocate resources that can save money, increase productivity and improve operations on your campus.

A space utilization strategy examines the investments institutions make into classrooms, collaboration spaces, dining facilities and more, with the objective of making sure they’re being used in a way that delivers the intended return on investment. An optimal space utilization strategy aligns the expectations of students, teachers and the wider community with the demands of facilities and the institution’s mission and values. 

Even a seemingly small improvement in space utilization can free up millions of dollars of physical assets around campus.

Planning Ahead: Updating with the Times

Colleges and universities are like their own cities with multimillion dollar budgets, operating staff and buildings for academics, dining, recreation and administration. Whether a spacious campus in a rural setting sitting on more than one thousand acres or a confined campus in the heart of an urban center on a few dozen acres, there are many different physical structures that make up a college campus. And, with an array of buildings to manage, many of which may be older, you’re likely to face questions when it comes to future planning, including should you update or replace?

Understanding and optimizing your space needs and your projected growth moving forward can help you to determine the best fit for your campus when it comes to such a major – and costly – decision like infrastructure.

Related: Why do you need University campus planning?

Space Utilization: An Example

Campuses around the world are using space utilization optimization to make their institution run more efficiently and effectively.

For example, let’s look at the University of Colorado Boulder, which started a space university and optimization initiative in 2014, with the goals of:

· Get more out of the resources that weren’t being fully optimized

· Making strategic decisions about how space is allocated, to prioritize and better support student success

· Create operational savings and efficiencies, which can then be reinvested toward areas of transformation for the campus (e.g., faculty hiring lines; one-time investments in key programs; new initiatives to transform research, teaching and learning).

Space Utilization Software

Space utilization software like Hubstar, helps you to get real-time intelligent occupancy data that in turn enables your institution to make informed decisions on how to optimize the use of education capacity.

With Hubstar, you can use smart scheduling, optimize occupancy, optimize under and over utilized classes and detect no-shows.

Here are four ways Hubstar helps you optimize your space.

1. Through partnerships with WiFi providers Cisco and Aruba, and with various sensor vendors amongst which VergeSense and Point Grab, our solutions provide you with analytics on any desired level of granularity. Our solutions are technology agnostic, which means we can retrofit any future needs.

2. Through partnerships with WiFi providers Cisco and Aruba, and with various sensor vendors amongst which VergeSense and Point Grab, our solutions provide you with analytics on any desired level of granularity. Our solutions are technology agnostic, which means we can retrofit any future needs.

3. Our Higher Education solutions are fully compliant with all existing privacy regulations including GDPR. We’re happy to show you how we have helped top-tier Universities in the Netherlands and United Kingdom achieve impressive outcomes, whilst being compliant with the highest standards.

4. Our solutions integrate seamlessly with industry leading planning tools that most universities use to plan their classes. The technology and data are available through API, which means that you can leverage the information in other applications you already use as well.

HubStar, is a space utilization software that helps to optimize and creative adaptive workplaces. Our technology works to enable data-driven real estate decisions providing you with proactive insights that can save you money on unnecessary leases and improve employee experiences.