By Juan Legaspi and John Dexter

Our anti-aesthetic thoroughfare is about to undergo a massive change. To ensure this project is as ‘student-centric’ as it can be, the University is taking measures to find out what students actually want in the new building.
The University’s overarching goal in this project is to “transform student experience”. Translated from this bureaucratic vernacular, the Uni wants to improve student life on campus with a comfortable place to study, socialise and relax. The end objective, of course, is to improve your Course Experience Questionnaire results, and improve the University’s student retention rates.
In keeping with the philosophy of “student-transforming-experience-centricity”, we have been taken on as student interns to correspond with you about the project. We’re here to inform and consult on the happenings of the development. Our intentions in this internship are to gather student opinion, build trust between the student body and the bureaucracy, as well as to help make sure the University doesn’t fuck up.

Before commencing the internship, we discussed what we each wanted to get out of this, as well as our general ideas and concerns for the project. One of our concerns was that the University might want to use us as mouthpieces or salesmen. For us, the best way to counter this perception is to be as open and accessible as possible to students. We both believe that genuine student participation will ultimately be a deciding factor in the development’s success.
The interior of the Learning Hub has not been finalised and is still being developed, based on the input of students and a design team.  The concepts and ideas for the interior of the Hub are diverse, and include such hypotheticals as a one-stop shop for student services, audio-visual rooms, a projector wall to notify students of events, new study spaces, hammocks, and a store providing fresh produce. The Learning Hub need not be a litany of private enterprise on campus and force-feed you bad coffee and Nando’s chicken.  We know this is a concern for many, and if it is, make sure your voice is heard.
Amongst the labyrinth of bureaucratic procedure, committees and project stakeholders, a Student Reference Group is providing direct input to the design team about what they think should go into the Hub.  Anyone else keen to contribute to the project can via the new “WHAT?” consultation wall in the library, our Wordpress blog, the Facebook page, and the University’s own Hughes Plaza website.