Higher Education Trends Will Inform Future Construction Plans

As colleges and universities across the state and nation welcome back students to their classrooms and living centers, many aspects of higher education are different than they were just a few years ago.

New trends in instructional delivery, demographic changes, experience-focused learning, student mental health and wellness are taking shape in real ways that impact how administrators and facilities teams manage spaces with goals of retaining students and enhancing their experiences.

Demographic change

As you are certainly aware from your admissions teams, the number of traditional college- and university-age students is not what it was 10 years ago. In Michigan enrollments are in decline at most institutions, meaning that spaces at many colleges and universities may need to be revisited and potentially repurposed or right-sized for changing needs and student numbers. Our education team at Rockford has successfully helped many Michigan colleges and universities with renovations to meet new needs and helped incorporate modern design and flexible space trends into old spaces, giving them new life. Facilities that aren’t updated may not serve your students in an optimal way — we would be happy to work with you to explore possibilities for your programming and spaces.

Experience-Focused Learning

Students and their families are increasingly looking at higher education as a value proposition. Higher tuition costs and pressures from the economy are causing some families to ask if investing in higher education is a good return on investment. In return, institutions like yours are increasingly moving toward giving students hands-on and experience-focused instruction to give students practical, provable skills that can immediately transfer to the world of work. Making this transition from classroom lectures to pedagogy that increasingly needs multifunctional and flexible space is changing what modern classrooms look like. Rooms that are full of desks with no storage options or spaces filled with other barriers to flexibility can hamper lessons of the modern educator. As families increasingly look for real “bang for the buck” from classes their students are taking, ensuring your faculty can provide the instruction students increasingly want is important.

Instruction Options

While experience-focused learning is increasingly important, pandemic challenges have shown the higher education field that students also want flexibility in instruction delivery. Many institutions struggled in 2020 and 2021 with fully online or hybrid instruction for a variety of reasons. Part of Rockford’s design and construction services is ensuring your design parameters for new spaces meet the requirements of 21^st Century learning, with connectivity for instructors, students, and space to grow to meet ever-increasing technological demands. Making investments in these technological advances also serves the goals of many institutions seeking to increase access for non-traditional students, veterans, and workers in the labor market interested in completing degrees.

Student Mental Health

Over the past decade or more, we have seen mental health in the U.S. enter a crisis. Specifically, over the past three years, we have seen levels of students facing mental health challenges increase dramatically. As not only places to learn but also where many students choose to live and recreate, campuses need to be inclusive, diverse places where students feel safe, secure, and like they belong. Students can feel more comfortable when spaces reflect their needs. Access to group and private study areas with comfortable, flexible seating and work areas is necessary to help students feel at ease as they study, live and work on campus. Design considerations like spaces with plentiful natural light, thoughtful colorscapes and more can be factored into any new design or renovation by our team for your students’ benefit.

In an education environment that needs to make students feel at ease, want to learn and study, socialize, make friends and prepare to enter the world and the workforce as well-read students and potential employees, space and facilities considerations play a large part.

At Rockford Construction we do more than follow plans to construct buildings. We work with your team to know what your needs are. Our team is dedicated exclusively to education projects and we can help you find the best way to use your existing space or create a new space to serve both the educational goals of your students as well as their well-being. We pride ourselves on our education construction experience and would love to consult with you as you consider your next project.