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The purpose of this article is to report findings on the perceptions of quality of educational facilities in Kenyan public universities, and the implications for teaching/learning, and the learning environment.

The study adopted an exploratory descriptive design. A total of 332 and 107 undergraduate students and academic staff respectively from five public universities were randomly selected to participate in the study. The questionnaire was used for data collection.

The quality of the library, online resources and lecture facilities provided by Kenyan public universities did not meet quality measures of adequacy. They were unable to support the desired educational programmes effectively and facilitate the development of learning environments that support students and teachers in achieving their goals. The facilities were the antithesis of healthy and secure facilities that can provide a stimulating/inspirational setting for the users, critical measures of quality facilities.

The study investigated the quality of learning resources from the perspectives of students and academic staff. Other stakeholders could have given additional perspectives not reported here.

Perceptions of quality of facilities indicated in this study show the need for university managers to focus on the improvement of the same if the quality of learning and learning environment were to be improved.

Kenya's public universities can only develop the right calibre of manpower to meet the country's future needs by providing physical and other facilities that promote rigorous scholarship.

Improvement in quality of educational facilities is important for all interested in enhancing student learning and learning environment anywhere.

Educational facilities and their design have considerable impact on how students learn. Recent research indicates that modern university students are spending less time on campus and more time interacting with their peers through technology. This paper aims to examine the responses of a small number of first year university students, at RMIT University, Melbourne, to questions about the type of learning facilities they want on campus.

First year undergraduate students were interviewed about their engagement with university and in particular their learning styles in the physical environment. Although a small volunteer sample (n=12), they were all first‐time users of the university and its facilities. The average age of the sample was 19.8 years. The case studies were interviewed regularly (n=8) over a 12‐month period and their responses to learning needs and styles and university facilities recorded. The gender mix (m=8, f=4) reflected the enrolment patterns in the university school. The students were given a range of discussion triggers in semi‐structured interviews to promote discussion about their own learning styles and where and when they felt they learnt best at university.

The responses of these students indicate a number of features about their interpretation of the relationship between university learning and teaching expectations and facilities. These are: learning for these students occurred in both formal and informal settings; there was evidence that the timetabled facility dictated the teaching style used and the opportunities for collaborative learning; active learning occurred more often for these students away from the classroom, often in informal, ad hoc spaces; these students placed an important emphasis on the technology available throughout the university; and the students favoured collaborative, social spaces for learning and technology exchange. The conclusions drawn from their responses indicate that these university students want flexible learning spaces that can adapt to both individual and collaborative work with a strong emphasis on social learning and advanced technology. The responses also indicate a mismatch between existing lecture theatres and tutorial rooms and the third space learning that these students want. The results have implications for the design and construct of future teaching and learning spaces in universities and other learning institutions.

Fisher notes the importance of safety, security, natural ventilation, lighting and other physical features as conducive to effective learning. Students in this study also indicated a need for multi‐use spaces for intense work and learning opportunities. These spaces also need to allow for students to interact with the global environment through technology.

The changes in learning and teaching have been significant in the past 25 years and the role of features such as technology, collaborative spaces and third space learning have created pressure on universities and staff to meet the demands of a modern community of scholars. There is now a far greater emphasis on the learning needs of tertiary students and the relationship between learning and facilities. The responses of this small sample of first time university users indicate that this relationship is critical.

The main objective of this research is to analyze the living and learning experience of foreign students at Jinan University (JNU). The study aims to elicit two basic purposes; first, to help JNU administrators to measure the level of satisfaction of students and response to their needs. Second, to assess the existing facilities in the context of quality of education, the syllabus, credit system, choices of available courses, foreign faculty, teaching resources, effective dissemination of knowledge, behavior of administration and teachers, quality of food versus price, dormitory conditions, library resources, and other necessary facilities for productive learning.

To recognize the issues of foreign students and obtain their responses, this research has relied on several techniques. We have created a questionnaire and applied a systematic sampling technique. The questionnaire has been divided into several categories and sub-categories.

Findings of this study have confirmed that majority of the foreign students at JNU are satisfied with the learning and living conditions.

Though our study is subject to limitations, yet it provides some valuable insights. Due to lack of resources and time, we have limited our sample size to 27. However despite having few respondents, the overall feedback represents the entire population. Additionally, this study is mainly focused on foreign student’s living and learning experiences satisfaction. Hence, no dependent and independent variable relationship is being determined or argued.

However, as indicated by the respondents, JNU needs to improve its learning facilities, as well as induction of additional foreign faculty, availability of English text books, security of student dormitories, expansion of sports facilities, renovation of university roads, and installation of new equipment in the laborites. Such conclusion provides the administration and other stakeholders with valuable indicators of how well the JNU is meeting with the expectations of international students and how resources might best be directed to improve further services.

Our approach is unique and inventive, as so far there has been very little research that has been carried out on this topic on Chinese Universities. This study serves as a benchmark in measuring the living and learning experience of foreign students at JNU. The results of the research would be useful for planning and improving the quality of services and help the administration in formulating better policies for international students.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate and discuss the extent of the satisfaction as perceived by the students and staff towards university facilities and services in two campuses in Finland. The aim is to analyse which facility-related factors have the greatest impacts on students’ and staff’s overall satisfaction.

The extensive survey was conducted to investigate how the university students and staff assess the university campus and facility services. A framework was developed to prioritise the satisfaction factors towards the facilities in two campuses in the both groups. The study was executed with the statistical assessment method, which combines each question’s mean value and how it affects overall satisfaction.

The findings show that there are differences in the main features of the satisfaction as assessed by the groups and between the two campuses. Student satisfaction consist of factors related to comfortable learning environment, where public spaces and campus accessibility play vital roles. Staff satisfaction can be characterised as a comprehensive campus experience and where laboratory and teaching facilities create value to the staff. In general, results show that the factors related to the research and teaching spaces have the greatest impacts on the overall satisfaction in the both groups. The improvement of the quality of these spaces will then directly assist staff and students in achieving their objectives.

The measurement method developed in the study helps campus facilities’ management to prioritise satisfaction factors and identify the areas of the quality improvements. This information can be used widely, for instance, in the campus development, facilities management and improvement of the university services.

The framework analyses which factors of the facilities have the greatest impacts on the overall satisfaction as perceived by the students and staff. The outcome of the study will improve the knowledge of which aspects of the facilities created value to the universities’ core functions.

This exploratory research investigates the issues surrounding the impact of lecture facilities on the student learning experience. Given the growing administrative significance of lecturer/student ratios, room utilization and occupancy levels, the importance of the lecture facility in the academic programmes of universities is central. Facility function must have an effect on future design decisions in regard to both new build facilities and refurbishment projects. The better informed those decisions are, the greater the quality of the learning experiences taking place in them. The methodology and findings of a research project are considered. It was found that generic design criteria can form the basis for benchmarking facility performance.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of the enhanced school facilities and the impacts of this enhancement on the learning behaviors of students

A pre‐ and post‐occupancy evaluation questionnaire was administered in 2003‐2004 to 750 primary students who had studied in both the old schoolhouses and the new Millennium Schoolhouses.

The results revealed that all of the FM components except teaching tools were improved in the millennium schools, while most of the learning behaviour (LB) components showed no changes. However, an interesting finding was that most of the improved FM components correlated to the enhanced LB of the students in the millennium schools.

There was only a three to four months period between the pre‐ and post‐occupancy evaluation in the study. To ensure the effectiveness of upgraded FM in millennium primary schools and to understand the long‐term impacts on the learning outcomes of students, a longitudinal post‐occupancy evaluation study in these three millennium schools is recommended.

It is suggested that a longitudinal POE study be conducted in these three millennium schools in order to understand the long‐term impact of facilities management in millennium primary schools, especially the impact on the academic performance of students.

Architects and facilities managers should further discuss with teachers about how to encourage students in classrooms to be self‐disciplined, redesign the layout, and reconsider the teaching tools that today's primary students need.

A growing body of research connecting the quality of school facilities to student performance accompanies recent efforts to improve the state of the educational infrastructure in the USA. Less is known about the mechanisms of these relationships. This paper seeks to examine the proposition that part of the explanation may be the mediating influence of school climate.

Teachers from 80 Virginia middle schools were surveyed employing measures including the School Climate Index, a seven‐item quality of school facilities scale, as well as three resource support items. Data on student SES and achievement were also gathered. Bivariate correlational analysis was used to explore the relationships between the quality of facilities, resource support, school climate, student SES, and student achievement. In addition, multiple regression was used to test school climate as a mediating variable between the quality of facilities and student achievement.

Results confirmed a link between the quality of school facilities and student achievement in English and mathematics. As well, quality facilities were significantly positively related to three school climate variables. Finally, results confirmed the hypothesis that school climate plays a mediating role in the relationship between facility quality and student achievement.

As we face fundamental issues of equity across schools and districts, leaders struggle to convince taxpayers of the need to invest in replacing and/or renovating inadequate facilities. Deeper understandings of the complicated interplay between the physical and social environments of school, and how these dynamics influence student outcomes, may help educators build a compelling case.

Using the HKUST Learning Commons as a case study, this paper seeks to reveal a number of insights on how to effectively engage different user groups within the university.

The case study focuses on the user‐group engagement process, highlighting the promotion plan and factors that enhance the user‐group engagement.

Two positive outcomes of the engagement were identified: the diversity of learning activities in the Learning Commons, and the elevated image of the library and librarians.

The experience at HKUST reported in this paper highlights the need for libraries moving to the new “commons” service model to actively promote the facilities by engaging different user groups. The process itself is a necessary component to the success of the new service and facilities.

The case study uses the user engagement framework to steer the promotion effort. The outcomes of the process have long‐term implications for the image and identity of libraries, and subsequently enhance the library's potential in fund raising and resource allocation.

The aim of the paper is to explore the relationship between the quality and value of higher education facilities through comparing the views of different user groups and professionals involved in the procurement and design of such facilities.

The paper adopts a mixed methods approach incorporating a number of interviews and a questionnaire survey, underpinned by the recommendations and input of an expert panel.

The results reveal the potential of facilities management and maintenance to create value for higher education institutions (HEIs) and students, perhaps even greater than the construction of new high‐profile facilities, by facilitating student recruitment and improving the student learning experience.

The sample includes data from a single HEI. Although this was deemed necessary so as to reduce the impact of externalities, the adopted approach has to be applied to a wider sample of HEIs in order to claim more generalisable findings.

The paper provides a better understanding of the relationship between the quality and value of higher education facilities. This can potentially support HEIs to achieve improved value for money from their facilities and free up resources to be reinvested in other aspects of student experience.

Considering the subjective nature of value the paper incorporates views from a number of different interest groups. These views are correlated with different facility quality standards to provide a holistic approach to assessing the value of higher education facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interconnections between management development and change management within the context of an industry case study. To develop strategies for how management development practices might better support the management of change.

Using a constructivist methodology, one‐to‐one interviews were conducted with two groups: a randomly chosen cross‐section of middle managers and a purposive sample of senior stakeholders within the industry. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the interview data.

The study finds that there was not a clear understanding of how the management of change fitted within the overall job role of the middle managers. How middle managers actually manage change on a day‐to‐day basis has been largely ignored or taken for granted. This has led to considerable stress on managers. There is a wide range of management development practices in the industry, with many managers receiving low levels of preparation and support.

As a qualitative study, there are limitations on the generalisability of findings. The study is set in one industry and the concepts advanced will require validating in other settings. Further research possibilities are recommended.

Based on the literature and study findings, a list of change management competencies and a number of management development strategies are recommended as a way of bringing change management more into the foreground of management thinking and practice within the industry.

This paper contributes to the small body of research on the interconnections between management development and change management, provides the only such research in the residential aged care industry, and contributes a range of practical proposals about how management development practices can be used to support the change management competencies of middle managers.