The 2008 Thought Leaders Symposium, sponsored by Jacobs, brought together a combination of participants new to the event and veterans from years past to assess the future of higher education and the implications of that future on educational facilities. Participants spent time in intense discussion with the goal of coming to a consensus on the challenges facing colleges and universities in North America. Facilities leaders were joined by experts in academic affairs, human resources, student services, finance, and administration; represented were community colleges, private institutions, and state universities.  

Here we present the result of the 2008 symposium in a white paper that focuses on changing demographics and accountability, two issues expected to have a dramatic impact on North American colleges and universities.

Reports available for download or hard copy (free of charge while supplies last)

2008: The Challenges of Demographic Changes and Accountability to Campus Facilities

In this report stems from APPA's second annual Thought Leaders summit, and was sponsored by Carter & Burgess, Inc..  Representatives from student affairs, academic affairs, and administration joined facilities leaders to consider three major challenges confronting higher education as a whole: evolving technology, changing stakeholder expectations, and the impact of competition on both those drivers of change. They then identified the top ten critical facilities issues, and formulated specific questions to help senior institution officers and facilities professionals prepare their institutions and their peers for the future.

This report, stemming from APPA's first annual Thought Leaders summit, and sponsored by Carter & Burgess, Inc., serves several purposes. The first is to provide a contextual overview of the changing landscape of higher education by identifying the drivers or trends affecting higher education’s future. The second is to relate these trends to the top ten issues affecting facilities professionals.  And finally, it provides a discussion both within individual institutions and throughout APPA about how the university’s built environment needs to respond to the changing demands on the educational institution.

APPA has just published the fourth report in our Thought Leaders Series – The Educational Professional's Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint. Sponsored by Affiliated Engineers Inc., this implementation guide is intended to give educational facilities professionals a practical companion framework for moving forward in their unique role within this process. The intent is to help facilities managers maximize their specific contributions and share their expertise and knowledge while working in tandem with other campus stakeholders to meet their institutions’ goals of carbon neutrality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

The Educational Facilities Professional's
Practical Guide to Reducing the Campus Carbon Footprint