by Veena Vadgama, CampusIQ Chief Marketing Officer
Higher education is in the middle of a fundamental shift — in how institutions understand their space, how they measure it, and how they plan for what comes next. At CampusIQ, we spend every day building technology to support that work….but the real insight comes straight from the campuses doing the planning.
That’s why our Customer Advisory Board (CAB) has become one of the most valuable forces shaping our roadmap. Last week, we brought together leaders from institutions across the country. These include campus planners, architects, facilities strategists, and space planning teams for a deep, candid session about what’s changing, what’s working, and what higher ed truly needs next.
Below is a look inside that conversation, and how it’s influencing the path forward.
Across campuses, leaders are seeking a way to anchor space conversations in context. This includes understanding how performance changes over time and how it aligns with similar institutions.
As one CAB member put it:
“We’ve always wanted to compare our space data to peers, but it’s been nearly impossible to do in a meaningful way. Having a responsible, anonymized way to see how other campuses are operating opens the door for much better conversations with internal stakeholders.”
Hence, benchmarking is becoming less about competition and more about clarity. Leaders want to understand whether they are on the right trajectory and where opportunities for improvement truly exist.
Space planning has moved into more strategic conversations, especially as leadership teams look for direct connections between space usage, academic delivery, and operational priorities.
Institutions want to communicate space performance through simple summaries, clear visuals, and insights that help leadership grasp what the data actually means.
At CampusIQ we know how important data is but that data alone doesn't tell the whole story. Ultimately, it's about data informing good decision making with the added context "the story" necessary for appropriate goal setting.
Campuses are complex ecosystems. Leaders want tools that help them understand how activity shifts by building, floor, and zone throughout the day.
One planner noted:
“Being able to explore zones visually is so much more intuitive than digging through filters. It immediately helps us understand what’s happening in a space.”
This reflects a broader shift toward spatial literacy. Many institutions are moving beyond static reports and toward environments that help them see patterns that would otherwise be difficult to detect.
Institutions want responsible, anonymized ways to compare themselves to peer groups that make sense for their context: mission, size, regional type, or campus footprint.
Leaders are looking for tools that can surface hourly patterns, highlight high-performing and underutilized spaces, and make it easy to understand activity across multiple buildings or campuses.
Campuses are expressing interest in more accurate, consistent, and scalable ways to understand what is inside their rooms — from capacities and layouts to technology and condition — without requiring months of manual work.
For multi-campus institutions, detail matters even more.
As one CAB participant shared:
“When you manage multiple campuses, you need a way to compare space performance across locations and across floors. Understanding patterns holistically is the only way to plan effectively.”
One of the most valuable outcomes of the CAB conversation was the openness among institutions to share what they are learning. Leaders described challenges, asked questions of one another, and compared approaches for common issues like classroom density, office strategies, flexible scheduling, and changing student patterns.
The insight was clear.
Space planning is becoming a collaborative practice. No single institution has a complete picture, but together they create a much more accurate understanding of emerging trends and shared opportunities.
Our role in these conversations is to listen, synthesize, and ensure the tools we develop align with these real-world needs. The expertise comes from campus leaders; technology simply supports that work.
Across institutions, several shared priorities are emerging:
These needs are shaping the future of campus planning in meaningful ways. As higher education adapts to new pressures and expectations, continued collaboration will be essential. The insights that emerged from our CAB conversation reflect not only where institutions are today but where the field is heading next.
If you are eager to be a part of the conversation or just want to follow along, reach out to us or follow our Linked In page to catch the latest episode of Bow Tie Tuesday - where we discuss and often interview higher education experts on key topics.