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The drivers, barriers, and strategies focusing on sharing the learning environment from a university with third parties
M.L. Lejewaan (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
A.C. den Heijer – Mentor (TU Delft - Real Estate Management)
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Abstract
Dutch universities are increasingly challenged to balance educational excellence with sustainable and efficient campus management. Amid tightening public budgets and rising space demands, sharing educational spaces with third parties, such as other educational institutions, government bodies, businesses, and community organizations, has emerged as a promising strategy. These collaborations offer opportunities for optimizing real estate usage, reducing underutilized space, generating additional revenue, and fostering societal engagement. However, the adoption of space-sharing practices remains limited and uneven, often falling short of institutional ambitions.
This thesis investigates the current drivers, barriers, and strategies that shape the sharing of educational spaces in Dutch universities. Drawing on a comprehensive mixed-method approach, including literature review, stakeholder surveys, and semi-structured interviews with facility managers and campus strategists, the study explores both operational realities and strategic frameworks underlying space-sharing initiatives. A central contribution is the development and application of the S.P.A.C.E. matrix (Strategic Fit, Practicality, Accessibility, Collaboration, Economics), which enables comparative analysis of universities' readiness and alignment for shared use of specific space types.
Findings reveal that while universities recognize the societal and financial value of shared spaces, significant obstacles remain. These include decentralized governance, cultural resistance among faculty, logistical and scheduling complexities, and unclear financial or legal frameworks for third-party use. Despite these barriers, pioneering practices across universities illustrate promising pathways for integrating third-party collaborations into long-term campus strategies. Moreover, the study highlights the role of national platforms like Campus NL in facilitating peer learning, benchmarking, and policy alignment across institutions.
This research contributes new theoretical and practical insights into campus real estate management, with implications for policymakers, university leaders, and planners. It supports a shift from ad-hoc sharing toward a more strategic, inclusive, and future-proof approach to educational space use, positioning the university as a collaborative node within broader knowledge ecosystems.