What builds a creative and developing study environment?

Finally, we are gradually returning to campus, and I'm thrilled. Into this new start, university staff and students bring fresh experiences of adapting in various ways. In education, adaptations from on-site to online teaching have led to an abundance of new and interesting discussions of what a study environment really is.

The pandemic definitely meant a huge digital leap in progress for Umeå University. As we are currently gradually returning to the workplace, some questions that must be processed are awaiting us. How do we learn from all this in our continued endeavour to develop the study environment of the future? What must we make sure we don't lose track of? We need to take a wide approach to this topic.

The term 'study environment' (Sw. utbildningsmiljö) may lead your mind onto the physical environment on campus. Many of the University's buildings have learning environments that stimulate interaction and creativity. How premises, furnishings, equipment and meeting spaces are designed naturally affect the conditions for learning. Likewise, the Vision for Umeå University states that having a unified campus with short geographical distances between various parts of the University is valuable.

Our beautiful campus is a study environment worth safekeeping, but one that may also be utilised better. That's why it is pleasing that the University is currently developing our outdoor environment in a way that can create exciting opportunities and lead to new ideas in teaching and learning. To mention an example, preparations are under way to create an educational outdoor environment on Campus Umeå – where the fields meet the forest below the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. In late spring 2022, this space will be bookable and contain seating, tables and a whiteboard designed for outdoor use.

Something else contained within the concept of 'study environment' are important values such as perspective, commitment, classroom climate, educational choices and, not least, mutual trust. What should characterise the study environment at Umeå University, and what stimulates active student learning – regardless of what format teaching uses?

Umeå University's study environment also reaches far beyond our campuses, partly because online learning expands our reach and helps us offer education to more students. Our geographical positioning in the world also influences our study environment, and brings with it other perspectives to social challenges, technology, medicine and the Arts. Simultaneously, Umeå University is an international environment in which knowledge is cultivated and grows in the interaction between students and teachers from differing traditions. Our subarctic location impacts the approach we have to global issues and events as well.

The most important characteristic of a creative and developing environment for studies is that it is permissive and reliant. Such a study environment expands the knowledge of students and teachers alike.