VUC Syd
The education centre in Haderslev is VUC Syd’s flagship. The centre has no traditional classrooms but different teaching zones tied together in a light, open and digital learning environment. The education centre is designed by AART architects and ZENI arkitekter.
Up to 200 % more students continue to study and 70 % more students join a vocational training programme after they have completed their programme at VUC Syd. If just 30 % of them then get at job, VUC Syd has helped add an estimated annual value of DKK 62 millions to the state coffers.
Branding
VUC Syd has attracted national and international media attention from DR (Danish Broadcast) to BBC for its open, digital and successful learning environment. Since the inauguration, it has generated more than 1,600 mentions in Danish media. That makes it the most mentioned of the 30 VUC education centres in Denmark.
Economics & Learning
By rethinking the framework for learning, VUC Syd has boosted study motivation, improved well-being and created more active and engaging learning. This is documented in an evaluation made by AART architects in collaboration with the Alexandra Institute. VUC Syd attracts 53 % more students, and after having completed their programme at VUC Syd, 70 % more students join a vocational training programme whereas 200 % choose higher education. This is equal to a total increase of more than 1,000 young people per year group for all of VUC Syd.
If just 30 % of those young people move from welfare benefits to paid work, VUC Syd adds a value of DKK 62 millions to the government coffers – by motivating the students to attend classes and continue to study. “Our ideas are fully realised” as a manager of VUC states in the Alexandra Institute’s evaluation of VUC Syd.
About the case
Focus in the design of the VUC Syd education centre is to give young people who are tired of going to school a new and more positive experience of going to school to help move them from public welfare benefits to further education and training and ultimately to paid employment.
Supported by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, AART architects has together with the Alexandra Institute revisited VUC Syd after the inauguration in 2013 to look at the social value creation of the education centre. The outcome of the qualitative data which AART architects have subsequently linked with quantitative data, including from the Economic Council of the Labour Movement, was clear: The education centre has created social, commercial and economic value.