Has COVID-19 finally ushered in the era of the smart campus? Since the late 1990s the idea of build smart campuses has been percolating among colleges and universities around the world. While higher educational institutions are often jam-packed with advanced technology, they haven’t always been at the forefront of interconnectivity and as data-driven as they should be outside of the lab, but the pandemic experience appears to have been a change maker for many. 

What is a Smart Campus Exactly? 

So what exactly is a smart campus? The term is wide ranging, but it generally focuses on the idea of creating an interconnected learning and living spaces on campus by using IoT technology and digital services. This article takes a look at how California State University Long Beach has defined their vision of a sart campus. Their vision includes  includes a digital wayfinding service to direct students to classes and mobile app-based dorm access.

Learn more about smart campuses here.

Virginia Union University Class of 2025 are Welcomed to the Smart Campus

Virginia Union University of Richmond, Virginia, is welcoming the Class of 2025 to campus with a whole lot of Apple products. From Apple Pencils to Air Pod Pros, new students will have access to the latest technology as part of the university’s new STEM initiative called Mobile Learning, Mobile Life.”Creating a smart campus at VUU is critical to the academic learning environment of a 21st Century student,” Hakim J. Lucas, VUU president and CEO, said in a press release Tuesday. “Apple has the products, apps and professional learning support that will allow our students to access books, classes and research materials at their fingertips.”

You can read the full article here.

Take a Look Inside a Smart Campus at University of Wollongong

The University of Wollongong, which serves 32,000 students and thousands more researchers and faculty in Australia and around the world has made some significant investments in their data management infrastructure recently. Fiona Rankin, CIO of the University of Wollongong, shared her data-driven mission in a recent video. With a need to collaborate with industry and global research partners, Ms. Rankin was faced with numerous challenges from balancing access to data with security and privacy requirements to the ability to grow and scale the university’s data management environment to continue to fuel its students, academics, and researchers.

Glimpse inside the mind of a data visionary here: