Management of public university campus as real estate object. The case of the university City of Bogota, Colombia.

Abstract

Since higher educated people have been seen as human capital, the city planners have developed strategies to hold them as young entrepreneurs for the economy of the city which is increasingly focused on knowledge and services. Indeed, real estate is a relevant aspect which supports the primary tasks of the knowledge institutions and creates their urban environment. In this context, university campus as real estate object never stands alone but forms an integral part of a socio-physical context. It does so, by influencing city developments and contributing to social formation, since universities expand their own institutional mission beyond their borders to the city. Accordingly, the management of university campus has become a complex decision making process that involves many internal and external stakeholders whose interests and visions differ according to local socio-economic conditions. This research focuses on managing and dealing with real estate decisions for university campus in a specific context, which main topic –Management of university campus- is grounded on previous and current research in this field that has been carried out by the researcher Alexandra den Heijer within the Real Estate & Housing department at TUDelft in co-operation with campus planners of all Dutch universities called “Managing the university campus”, which provides universities with conceptual model and tools to improve campus management. Nevertheless, since methods and instruments provided by theory and empirical research are generic, this research arose to test their applicability to improve campus management in a specific case: The university City of Bogotá (UCB). Thus, this case is the starting point and target for the intended results, which main purpose is to provide practical advice to improve its campus management by using established conceptual instruments within the domain of Real Estate Management in different contexts and outlining the urban position of the university in the city as a source of complementary instruments to improve campus management.