Stinne Vognæs
Start over: design the university for today, not for the past
Almost everything. While UNA Europa appreciates and celebrates the heritage of old institutions, it is tempting to throw away everything we know about universities and start over: if you founded a university in 2025, you would not design it the way universities look today. Lectures emerged when books were scarce; now knowledge, data and information are everywhere, so discussion and engagement are the real purpose. Classrooms could give way to informal encounters and conversations over coffee — more collaborative and engaging, the way many schools have been redesigned for children. Young adults can still play, too: a playground at the university, freer exploration, fewer fixed learning objectives for every class — and more colour, more couches and free coffee.
If you had to start a university in 2025, how would you design it?