“Be the change that you want to see in the world.” -Mohandas “Mahatma” K. Ghandi
What would the best college campus look like? How could you improve your campus?
Are you in the student parlament? Most universities have a student union, mostly divided into executive, legislative and sometimes even judiciary functions. Join one of them. At university level, I think if you identify with your school, and appreciate the education you’re getting, the least you can do to give back is to take action in making university a better place for yourself and fellow students.
Plus, it’s a good achievement to whack on your CV.
College Campuses always bring along scope for improvement. Here are a few ideas I think every campus can use to be improved.
The Ideas
- Nap room: There’s nothing like a power nap for an exerted student. Stand up for a on-campus room equipped with cozy sofas, maybe even beds and a water cooler. Let university become a place of being, not just studying.
- Better libraries: Does your library have the latest editions of the Encyclopedia Brittanica? Find sponsors and help improve opening times, study desk availability and the number of magazines you have electronic access to. Modernization is always needed in a library.
- Tastier Cafeterias: If you’re already committing to making the university a better place to spend part of your life, make sure you eat well. A cafeteria should have choices for any diet, especially vegetarians. Prices can be kept at bay by fighting for competition to move in around the campus. If you have just one place to eat within 2 blocks, you’re going to deal with monopoly pricing, which is no fun.
- Podcast lectures: We’ve been fighting long and hard for this, and our professors are extremely scared of copyright issues. Thus, podcasting their lectures is a no-go for them. And thus, if I want to hear a lecture, I must attend class. Which isn’t always easy, if you’re engaged in extra-curricular activities that collide time-wise. It’s strange, as good universities make their lectures available on iTunes.
- Electronic Learning Management: Professors usually like online services for class management. Our universtiy uses a custom-built version of IBM’s Lotus Learning Management System, and it works quite well. Keep up development in this area for a nearly-paperless course that saves you and the planet.
- A clear, understandable room system: My university has room numbers ranging from G3A to 9203U. I don’t think it makes any sense at all, as it is a system that’s evolved over time and should be updated. A clear naming structure, such as A-B-C for buildings, first digits for floors and second digits for rooms make it easier to find for visiting students and you, the next time you see a room number on the exam schedule you’ve never been to before.
- Free drinking water: A tap and glasses are always available at our school. It’s a basic need, and great for when you forget to pack your own bottle. Every campus should provide with drinking water, it keeps the students healthy and productive and respects their budgets by not forcing you to buy expensive bottled water.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Students face many more challenges on their campuses, and I’d love to hear from you guy: What do you want to change on your campus?
June 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Just thought I’d point out that the main thing keeping more colleges from putting stuff on iTunesU isn’t the quality of the school but the fact that it’s hugely expensive to do so. In order to be an official iTunesU partner, the university has to commit to providing and maintaining the storage and bandwidth for all the stuff and for downloading it. My small college looked into it and it was going to cost us tens of thousands of dollars to purchase the server space and routing equipment to get us up to speed.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Interesting, Robert. Do universities need to pay Apple or is it just the storage/bandwidth costs?
At my university at least, it’s the copyright issues. We have huge bandwidth (and it’s a major university in Switzerland).