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Recent attention to the developments focusing on the educational services has been noteworthy, with the educational environment specifically the smart campus emerging both as a domain and as an opportunity. As a domain worthy of exploration, a number of research efforts are being conceptualized around smart campus initiatives. The existing bouquet of research publications on smart campus provides a testimony of the enthusiasm and also exposes the heterogeneous attempts the domain has witnessed to date. The available evidence is still inadequate to provide clarity on the thrust areas of research around smart campus.

Given the understanding, this study intends to decode the domain to get an early impression of the focus of the research concentration around smart campus. Thereby the study resorts to an automated text-mining approach using Python on contents shortlisted systematically, and published between the period 2010 and May 2022, from select databases.

Based on the analysis it was possible to identify eight themes (i.e. smart campus characteristics, smart campus stakeholders, smart campus frameworks, smart campus technologies, smart campus infrastructure, smart campus evaluation, smart learning environment and smart campus applications) characterizing research efforts within the smart campus literature.

The themes around the smart campus showcase the thrust areas receiving attention. These characterize extant research endeavours in the smart campus domain and can offer useful pointers to researchers going forward. This awareness can also be beneficial to institutional leadership and technology providers intending to implement smart campus initiatives, contributing to the development of the educational environment.

The objective of corporate real estate management is to optimally attune corporate accommodation to organisational performance. At universities, the dynamic process to match supply and demand is often hindered by difficulties in the allocation and use of space. This is a challenge for the Dutch universities and perhaps also European universities, which own large and ageing real estate portfolio’s in need of (re)investment: how can universities invest their resources as effectively as possible and not in space that will be poorly used? The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of smart campus tools to improve space use on campus.

First, a survey at 13 Dutch universities is conducted, consisting of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with Dutch campus managers. Then, semi-structured interviews are held with a number of parties in other industries to explore the use of smart tools in other contexts.

The universities’ demand for smart tools is mainly directed at the automatic and continuous collection of real-time space use data for education spaces and giving students insight into the availability of study places on campus. The tools at the Dutch universities focus largely on effectiveness: helping their users in their search to find a space that supports their activities. In other industry sectors, the results suggest that the use of smart tools is more directed towards efficiency: maximizing the use of existing space or optimising the operations of the organisation.

Although the use of smart tools in practice has gained significant momentum in the past few years, research on the subject is still sparse. By providing a framework for smart tools, as well as exploring the work done in theory and in practice, the authors hope to increase discussion and research on the subject from the perspective of corporate real estate.

Smart campuses can be seen as the future of higher education efforts, especially for their contributions to sustainability and to encourage innovation. This paper aims to present the benefits of smart practices in a Higher Education Institutions and highlights its connections to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The methodology is divided into three steps: first, an international search and assessment of smart practices at universities; second, the identification of smart practices in a university campus in southern Brazil; and third, the presentation of the benefits of smart practices and their relationship with the SDGs.

The results showed that globally, the area most covered by smart practices in universities is the environment and, specifically, focused on waste reduction. in the context of this case study, the benefits of implementing smart practices mainly reach SDGs 4 and SDG 9, especially due to aspects of teaching technologies for the new classroom models and the optimization of campus infrastructure management.

The study encourages other universities to implement smart practices in their campuses, to becoming smart campuses while they also collaborate in achieving the SDGs while raising the discussion on the importance of committed actions taken on a university campus with the UN SDGs, to leverage synergies on campus operations at universities.

This paper presents a set of smart practices that universities are applying both globally and locally (in southern Brazil). In addition, it contributes to sustainability research by showing how smart practices have the potential to promote SDGs in universities, especially through campus operations.

Higher education institutions are widely known both for their promotion to education for sustainable development (ESD) and for their contribution as living labs to urban management strategies. As for strategies, smart and learning campuses have recently gained significant attention. This paper aims to report an air quality monitoring experience with focus on the smart and learning campus and discuss its implications for the university context with regard to ESD and sustainable development goal (SDG) integration.

The air quality monitoring was held at the main campus of University of Passo Fundo and focused on three pollutants directly related to vehicle emissions. The air quality index (AQI) was presented on a website, along with information regarding health problems caused by air pollution, main sources of emissions and strategies to reduce it.

The results showed how the decrease in air quality is related to the traffic emissions and the fact that exposing students to a smart and learning environment could teach them about sustainability education.

This case study demonstrated how monitoring air quality in a smart environment could highlight and communicate the impact of urban mobility on air quality and alerted to the need for more sustainable choices, including transports.

This paper contributes to the literature by showing the potential of a smart-learning campus integration and its contribution towards the ESD and the UN SDGs.

This paper aims to explore smart facilities services in the context of university campus by aiming to understand how the service development processes can be classified.

The qualitative study is based on literature review about smart facilities services and a case study about developing visualisation, data and smart service in one building in Finnish campus. The case study data were gathered by diverse methods and analysed by content analysis.

Three smart facilities service processes were identified: experience processes for users, data-based service processes and technology processes. All the processes require more than only technocratic approach.

Single case study without longitudinal data gathering is not strong in terms of generalisation.

The process classification can help different stakeholders to identify their role and tasks in smart facilities service development.

The research aims to understand how to develop smart services in addition to more investigated topic what the services include.

Facilities management (FM) activities affect citizens’ health and safety, long-term urban environmental sustainability and the relationships between the built and natural environments of cities. This study aims to comprehend the status of smart FM tools application, how they are used to improve the delivery of FM services and the barriers to their implementation.

To investigate the current smart solutions that leverage the quality of FM service, a case study based on the FM practice in Hong Kong was carried out. The case study was conducted in two phases of data acquisition based on a qualitative research methodology. After conducting in-depth interviews to determine the application of smart FM tools in different types of properties and to identify the initiatives and barriers to smart FM tool application, three workshops were conducted to validate the findings and further investigate the influence of FM professionals on smart FM tools application in Hong Kong.

The findings of the case study revealed, firstly, that four types of smart FM tools – user-centric, safety and hygiene, maintenance and sustainability-oriented – are used to assist the delivery of FM services. Secondly, smart FM tools are shown to be useful in assisting FM activities. Thirdly, the existing barriers to smart FM tool application manifest differently in shopping malls, office buildings and residential buildings. Fourthly, smart FM tools are used to address the four attributes of user needs: comfort, health and wellbeing, convenience and information to occupants.

The value of this study lies in its focus on the industry level (FM industry) and the application process of smart FM tools in different types of property, revealing the benefits, initiatives and barriers to their future application. This study provides a comprehensive picture of the current status and elaborates the barriers to smart FM tool application, which will help FM practitioners to make strategic decisions on selecting and developing smart FM tools. Also, this study will facilitate smart FM tool application policy development.

The purpose of this study was to design a renovation plan for a university campus building (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) with the aim to achieve nearly zero energy performance, ensuring a low specific demand (lower than 44 kWh/m²) and a high level of on-site renewable generation (equivalent to more than 20 per cent of the energy demand).

The baseline demand was characterized based on energy audits, on smart metering data and on the existing building management system data, showing a recent reduction of the electricity demand owing to some implemented measures. The renovation plan was then designed with two main measures, the total replacement of the actual lighting by LEDs and the installation of a photovoltaic system (PV) with 78.8 kWp coupled with an energy storage system with 100 kWh of lithium-ion batteries.

The designed renovation achieved energy savings of 20 per cent, with 27.5 per cent of the consumed energy supplied by the PV system. This will ensure a reduction of the specific energy of the building to only 30 kWh/m², with 42.4 per cent savings on the net-energy demand.

The designed renovation proves that it is possible to achieve nearly zero energy goals with cost-effective solutions, presenting the lighting renovation and the solar PV generation system a payback of 2.3 and 6.9 years, respectively.

This study innovated by defining ambitious goals to achieve nearly zero energy levels and presenting a design based on a comprehensive lighting retrofit and PV generation, whereas other studies are mostly based on envelope refurbishment and behaviour changes.

This paper aims to present and describe the main actions carried out in six different faculties and common areas such as cultural and research centres and administrative buildings in the Ferrol campus at the University of A Coruña to achieve the second green flag on a Galician University.

A case study describing the steps for implementing a green campus programme in a medium-size, young university campus integrated into a small city. An Environmental Campus Committee was created to assess the main factors that affect environmental footprint, discuss sustainability initiatives and develop a guide to action regarding different goals related to sustainable transport options, energy, water conservation and waste reduction. The actions included several fields such as education, circular economy and healthy life and involved the on and off-campus community.

The programme achieved a decrease in water consumption and electrical energy. An important change in educational values and behaviours regarding sustainability was observed in and out of the campus community. The measurements adopted mainly in waste management, mobility and education led the Ferrol campus to achieve a green campus flag on November 2019.

This experiment can serve as a guide to establish the Green Campus philosophy in other similar university campuses.

The Internet of things (IoT), an emerging research field, offers solutions to several problems and may result in a paradigm shift in various areas, including education. However, this approach has been under-utilised. Therefore, this research investigates and highlights the primary factors that influence the impact of the IoT on education and reveals the current state of academic research to manage higher education (HE) resources effectively and efficiently.

Data from 35 academic papers were collected and analysed to understand the current situation and assess the readiness of HE to adopt IoT. A literature review is a well-established method for developing knowledge and interpreting issues under consideration. This study systematically analysed the various research methodologies used to adopt IoT, summarising the content of the studies and highlighting the main factors that may affect IoT adoption in HE.

The authors examined 95 papers; 35 were investigated and analysed. The literature review and analysis of academic papers revealed the factors influencing the adoption of IoT technology in HE.

By examining the evidence, this study contributes to understanding the context and supplements existing research. It conducts a systematic literature review to assess the impact of the IoT on the educational process, proposes future research directions and presents findings that aid the efficient management of HE resources.

Knowing the students' readiness for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is essential to producing competent, knowledgeable and skilled graduates who can contribute to the skilled workforce in the country. This will assist the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to ensure that their graduates own skill sets needed to work in the 4IR era. However, studies on students' readiness and preparedness for the 4IR in developing countries such as the Sultanate of Oman are still lacking. Therefore, this study investigates students' readiness level and preparedness for the 4IR. The findings of this study will benefit the HEIs policymakers, administration, faculties, departments, industries and society at large since they will be informed of the student's readiness and preparedness toward industry 4.0.

The authors adopted the measures from the same context as previous studies in this study. The questionnaire was divided into three sections; the first part described the purpose and introduction of the search with the surety to keep the data confidential. The second part consisted of demographical information like gender, education. The last parts consisted of four subsections, question items in these parts are based on the related previous study. Characteristics consisted of 14 items, knowledge consisted of 18 items related to 4IR technologies, Organizational Dimension comprised of four items related to academic programs, curriculum and training. Preparedness contained two items. The participants have rated all the items in 5-Likert scale.

Results from structural equation modeling showed that students' characteristics, knowledge of 4IR technologies and organizational dimensions significantly impact their preparedness for the 4IR. The study also found that organizational dimensions have the highest impact on students' preparedness. Furthermore, the organizational dimension significantly influences students' knowledge of 4IR technology. Moreover, students' characteristics related to 4IR are significantly affected by their knowledge of 4IR technology and organizational dimension. The findings suggest that HEIs are responsible for increasing the adoption of 4IR, and therefore organizational dimensions such as the academic programs, training, technological infrastructure and others are all critical for preparing students for a better future and should be given a priority.

This study has used academic programs and training to measure the organizational dimension. However, other important factors should be considered, such as technological infrastructure and leadership and governance of HEIs. Second, the current research depends on quantitative data, so future research should implement a mixed methodology (questionnaires, depth interviews, document analysis and focus group) to understand the factors affecting students' readiness for 4IR clearly. Finally, although the 4IR has numerous benefits, it also has challenges in its implementation, so future studies should focus on challenges encountered by different stakeholders in implementing 4IR-related technologies.

The curriculum must include mandatory courses related to IT infrastructure design, user experience programming, electronic measurement and control principles, and programming for data science. HEIs should also foster interdisciplinary knowledge by integrating IT, Engineering, Business and Sciences. Furthermore, the HEIs should develop their infrastructure to have smart campuses, labs, classrooms and libraries to make HEIs a space where knowledge can be generated and innovative solutions can be proposed. This entails HEIs offering necessary hardware, software and technical support because if the HEIs improve their technological resources, students will be capable of using 4IR-related technologies effectively.

The advancement of technology has resulted in the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, cloud computing, data science, virtual reality and 3D printing. It is essential to investigate students' readiness for 4IR. However, there is no study as per researchers' knowledge talked about students readiness in HEIs in the Arab world. This study could be a basis for more research on students' perception of the 4IR covering students from various backgrounds and levels.