Tag Archives: Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel

September 3, 2014 · 13:25

Back in academic business

by Alexandra den Heijer

As always I am happy that the start of the academic year (Monday September 1st for Dutch universities) brings back life to the campus. On the Delft campus two new developments align with our “preferred strategy” for European campuses: more pop-up retail & leisure in public space and bringing new life to an old inner-city building (Legermuseum – see TU Delft website).

At this moment I am enjoying another European univer-city: Heidelberg. Not my first visit to Germany’s oldest university, but certainly my most academic. Our symposium will add another book to the series Knowledge & Space (website).

My lecture in Heidelberg, Germany about "the (future of the) campus & the city in Europe" - see DOWNLOADS for PDF

My lecture* in Heidelberg, Germany about “the (future of the) campus & the city in Europe” – see DOWNLOADS for PDF – *at this stage no group photos were available for blog publishing – when they are, I will add them to this post

The subject “Geographies of the university” also aligns with Flavia’s PhD research – see blog link and her assessment of 39 campuses, which will most likely be published in 2015 – the flyer: Summary Exploratory Research.

book "The European campus - heritage and challenges" is available from October 16, 2014

book “The European campus – heritage and challenges” is available from October 16, 2014

Speaking of books: George Tzovlas – who was promoted from researcher to PhD researcher last month – and I will launch our book “The European campus – heritage and challenges” (cover) next month – October 16 in Tallinn, Estonia – at the annual conference of CESAER, the network of European Universities of Technology. All participants will receive a copy. After that conference the book will be available. First responses to the draft copy: “A tour guide for studying in Europe”, referring to the many photos that highlight the beauty of Europe. However, the book also covers the “headaches” of the European campus, of which fewer photos are published online.

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May 15, 2014 · 14:13

Academic family portrait of the campus research team

by Alexandra den Heijer

Last month we took a photo of the campus research team, which – to our pleasant surprise – resembles a family portrait.

Introducing TU Delft's campus research team - Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel, Alexandra den Heijer, George Tzovlas, Salome Bentinck and Naif Alghamdi

TU Delft’s campus research team – Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel, Alexandra den Heijer, George Tzovlas, Salome Bentinck and Naif Alghamdi

Campus team members and their projects:
1. Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel: Technology Campuses in Cities
2. Salomé Bentinck: Knowledge workplace
3. Naif Alghamdi: Sustainable campuses in Saudi Arabia
4. George Tzovlas + Alexandra den Heijer: Managing European campuses

In comparison with the photo that I posted last year – see post Campus team 2013 – Naif Alghamdi joined the group. In his PhD research he will focus on campus management in his native country Saudi Arabia, with lessons from and for many other universities. The following section is a text from his PhD proposal (edited for this post).

“Currently, the government of Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in the higher education sector. Today, Saudi Arabia has twenty-eight universities, of which many are founded between 2003 and 2014. This boom has led to the construction of 16 new campuses in different parts of the kingdom, costing more than €16 billion in total. These campuses are located in cities that have had no history of hosting such institutions. The capacity of new campuses ranges from 10,000 to 90,000 students. According to the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education (2014) more than a million students were enrolled in 2012. The total capacity of the 16 new campuses will be around 776,000 students, increasing accessibility of higher education to a total of almost two million students once these new campuses are fully operational. The total area of campus land is more than 11 thousand hectares. This massive area gives more flexibility for possible future expansions. Such figures send a clear message that these mega-projects should be handled cautiously for the sake of a sustainable future.” (source: Naif Alghamdi, 2014)

comparison NL-Saudi Arabia (source: Naif Alghamdi, 2014)

comparison NL-Saudi Arabia (source: Naif Alghamdi, May 2014) – note: in red “+ 3 last week” (!)

More information about Naif Alghamdi and the other team members can be found on the page CAMPUS RESEARCH TEAM.

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April 2, 2012 · 16:28

“Leading the way” AUDE conference 2012

by Alexandra den Heijer

On April 2, 2012 I was invited to speak at Loughborough University for the AUDE conference (the UK Association of University Directors of Estates). The hand-out of the presentation can be found under DOWNLOADS after my presentation. The 3-minute movie “The making of BK city” can be found with a link to YouTube under CASE BK CITY.

European Univer-cities in the top 150 worldwide - figure from Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel's research

Lessons so far:
-1- the importance of ‘managing expectations’ – engaging both students and staff in the strategic, financial and physical context (and challenges) to put their functional demands into perspective, which also is a key factor in their satisfaction;
-2- the relation between the physical campus and regional knowledge economy (‘town gown’ – univer-city) – see figure Knowledge cities in Europe, representing universities in the global top 150, source QS Times Higher Education ranking 2011, edited by PhD researcher Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel, see BOOK DESIGN for her background and résumé;
-3- balancing the strategy of ‘creating a community and home base’ and sharing space and collaborating with partners in higher education, business or industry;
-4- considering students as long-term stakeholders and not as customers; when students become alumni the value of their diploma will be associated with the quality of the institution for life and alumni could (and do) also play an important role in education and research, in the primary processes (giving lectures) and in branding their ‘alma mater’ in practice. This could be a basis for alumni funding.

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March 15, 2012 · 14:20

Exploring univer-cities

by Alexandra den Heijer

Today I attended the conference “Gebiedsontwikkeling Slim Vlottrekken” [Urban area development: smart solutions – see http://www.gebiedsontwikkling.nu] in Utrecht to present one of the spin-offs of my campus research project: “Managing the univer-city”. We use this term for the merged model of the campus and/in/as the city [“and/in/as” depends on both the physical setting and how well urban authorities and universities collaborate].

20120315-131438.jpg

For the spin-off project “Managing the univer-city” TU Delft hired PhD candidate Flavia Curvelo Magdaniel, who also connected the knowledge city and the university campus in her Master thesis. More about her profile and background can be found under BOOK DESIGN (because Flavia was responsible for the graphic design of the book). For this project we collaborate with the academic groups of Urban Area Development, Corporate Real Estate Management, Urbanism and Urban Economics.

For publications and recent presentations about univer-cities, “campus & city” and knowledge cities scroll the (chronological) list under DOWNLOADS. A review in Dutch online can be found online: gebiedsontwikkeling.nu

session about “univer-city” Coolhaven, Rotterdam – Caroline Giezeman (r), Alexandra den Heijer (m), Roderick van Houwelingen (l) – photo: Jean van Lingen.

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