09 April 2021 
Martin Higgs, Communications Officer
Today AUDE and HEDQF launch the report of their recent Student Life survey. Supported by YouthSight’s OpinionPanel Community, we interviewed 1008 students during December 2020, asking 12 questions relating to their experience of life on campus both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As AUDE Chair Stephen Wells (University of Surrey) and HEDQF Chair Dr Ghazwa Alwani-Starr (University of London) say in their Foreword to the report:
“At this time of maximum uncertainty our survey attempts to uncover some of the before/during/after-Covid of students’ assumptions and wishes about student life, our campuses, living accommodation and university services – including teaching and learning environments as the most obvious type of that.
“In thinking about a future post-Covid state, our student panel faced the same task we all do and have done throughout the crisis – to imagine something outside our experience, based on shifting sands of general or specialist knowledge, that may be quickly shown to be inaccurate as the situation evolves. In writing this report we assume a future state in which vaccination has allowed society to return to something much like it was before, though leaving lives, including the worlds of work and study, potentially changed forever.
“In publishing this research AUDE and HEDQF share a common set of interests. Both organisations are deeply committed to high-quality higher education estates – whether this be expressed in terms of architectural design and materials, construction standards and project delivery, or maintenance and ongoing management of the estate and facilities. We believe estates teams are a significant contributor to university success, and never more so than during this difficult period. And we believe that ‘student voice’ is one of the best guides we have to what is needed to deliver excellent university estates.”
You can read and download the report online. Alexander Grigull and Rupert Cook of HEDQF will be joined by Stephen Wells and Roddy Yarr (University of Strathclyde) representing AUDE, to speak about the survey and results at the AUDE Conference on Monday 12 April at 4pm in their session “Learning lessons from Covid-19 for the design of the future sustainable campus” – delegates can add this workshop to their own personal programme for conference on the AUDE website.
