A learning space Odyssey

This dissertation addresses the alignment of learning space with higher education learning and teaching. Significant changes in higher education the past decades, such as increased information and communication technology (ICT) and new learning theories have resulted in the dilemma whether higher education institutions can facilitate tomorrow’s learning and teaching in today’s or even yesterday’s school buildings. The objective of this dissertation is twofold. First, it explores the alignment of higher education accommodation with higher education learning and teaching developments. Second, it supports CREM decision-making to align learning spaces with the requirements that result from the developments in higher education. The main research question of the thesis is: Which aspects influence the alignment of learning space with developments in higher education learning and teaching? To address this question, five sub-questions were formulated (RQ1-RQ5), for which five studies have been conducted. These sub-questions fit relevant alignment issues in order to connect the demand and the supply side of higher education buildings. RQ1 aims to explore how higher education buildings match the developments in higher education learning and teaching. Next, RQ2 and RQ3 refer to identifying how managers, who are responsible for the supply side, act in line with these developments. The key aspect of RQ2 concerns the content of CRE strategies that are formulated to match corporate strategies. The key aspect of RQ3 is concerned with the process of managing alignment of supply with demand. Finally, RQ4 and RQ5 focus on investigating the alignment of higher education buildings specifically from the perspective of students as an important user group. RQ4 aims at the actual use of learning spaces by students, where RQ5 aims to study the students’ preferences for their physical learning environment. The five studies result in five research papers that are presented in the dissertation.