University On Strike!
As university staff and students backed a three-day strike for lecturers in December, students were left concerned about further disruption to their education following 18 months of being off campus due to Covid.
We have all witnessed the shift to virtual classrooms during the pandemic and many students have been questioning the need to even be on a physical campus with the effectiveness and improvements of online learning.
However, there is an importance for physical space in the learning process. In reality online learning, although maybe convenient for some, actually highlights an inequality, an economic disparity and negates access to technology and social stability that a university campus provides so readily.
Online education cannot replace the residential college experience, it only heightens the imbalance of life. A physical neutral space for learning is essential for an equal quality of learning.
A college campus provides students with secure housing, food stability, a neutral and stable environment, outdoor space, and essential equipment such as reliable internet access and technology. For many, ‘home’ isn’t always a stable environment and going away to college can provide a better future.
A college or university education is a path upwards, not just simply an accumulation of knowledge. Campus living expands imagination and builds on the understanding of the world's workings. Education and learning cannot be something that happens solely in front of a computer. Interaction and socialisation need a place.
A beautifully designed campus will encourage a healthy lifestyle in and outside the class. Many Universities invest not only in their lecturers but also in their recreational facilities and natural spaces. The ability to spend time outdoors improves student health and physical wellbeing. Learning improves in conjunction with mental health.
A well designed and cleverly planned educational space will improve academic performance and students should consider the aesthetics of the campus as well as the academic offerings when considering their choices.
Bailey Street Furniture Group can provide furniture packages to develop newly built or existing campus spaces. Cleverly placed furniture and well designed spaces can provide connected green space, social seating, planting and recreational areas.
External furniture invites social activity and allows connections to be made. Powder coated furniture can provide interest and contrast to often bland purpose built structures. Seating and picnic sets can allow for eating and working. Pergola structures and canopies can provide shelter and areas to filter sunlight as learning is increasingly moved outdoors.
Bailey Street Furniture Group offers a combination of innovative design, clever solutions and smart technologies for all our campus needs. BSFG believes that investing in well designed sustainable educational spaces is vitally important, our immediate surroundings and environment benefit our quality of life and promote a healthier future that we all so depend upon.
Using world class design teams and utilising environmentally sustainable materials in conjunction with leading edge technology, Bailey Street Furniture Group creates inspiring integrated educational furniture with our future needs in mind.
AMV Playgrounds is part of the Bailey Street Furniture Group, a privately owned collection of individual companies serving the construction sector, providing a wide range of street furniture, playground elements and associated services to the public realm, commercial and educational schemes throughout the UK. Find out more by visiting the BSFG Website.