Survey: Take a break

Results of the survey

Relaxation during everyday university life

Students spend a lot of time on campus during lecture periods. Between events there is sometimes time for a short break to take a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. In our survey, we wanted to find out which recreational areas you use on campus, how you rate the current range of recreational opportunities available, what you think a good recreational location looks like and what suggestions you have for improving recreational areas at the TUM campus locations. We have summarized the most important results for you on this page:

Sample

A total of 96 TUM students participated in the survey (June 2023). Of these, the majority were female (68.6%) and were currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree program (75.9%). More than two quarters (41.6%) of the participants were students of the Department of Sport and Health Sciences, 32.6% assigned themselves to the TUM School of Engineering and Design.

Location Usage

The majority of respondents reported spending most of their time during the semester at the TUM Campus Olympiapark. 31.4% of the students spend most of their time during their studies at the TUM Campus Garching and 16.3% at the TUM Main Campus. 3.5% primarily use the TUM Campus Weihenstephan, 2.3% the location of the Klinikum rechts der Isar and 1.2% the TUM Campus Straubing.

The survey results showed that in a typical week, more than half of the students (57.6%) spend 3-4 days at the university on site. 15.3% spend a full 5 days on the campus, 22.4% 1-2 days, and just under 5% "never" visit the campus. On a single day, the majority of students (36%) spend 4-6 hours on the campus. A quarter of the survey participants spend slightly less (2-4 hours per day) or slightly more (6-8 hours per day) on site. 8.1% even spend more than 8 hours at TUM every day.

Need for recreation

Overall, 64.8% of participants indicated that they "often" or "very often" felt the need to take a break during their daily university routine within the last four weeks. Many students yearn for additional opportunities to relax and thus more time to take a short break from the daily university routine. The satisfaction regarding the number of previous places to relax was rated as "not" or "not at all" by 64.8% of the participants. Similarly, the quality of previous recreation opportunities could have been better by 43.7%. However, one-third of the respondents are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. Compared to other locations, particularly students who spend a lot of time at the TUM Main Campus are not happy with the number and quality of previous recreational opportunities.

Only about 16% of the respondents know where to take a break. In addition, more than half of the students (68.7%) feel "not at all", "not" or only "partially" supported by the university to take a break during their everyday university life.

Relaxation during work or university days can positively impact general well-being, physical health, and quality of life (Milner & Cote (2009)). In addition, short periods of downtime promote the ability to concentrate and support the consolidation of knowledge. As part of the survey, participants were asked for their subjective assessment of the impact that rest can have in everyday university life. In total, the level of agreement for eight statements was queried on a 5-point Likert scale. The responses indicate that, according to the students, rest has a particularly "positive effect on well-being" and improves "concentration" and "mood". In addition, respondents were increasingly of the opinion that time off during the university day is beneficial to the "general state of health" and can "promote academic performance".

This is important to students

Finally, we wanted to know what makes a perfect outdoor or indoor recreation spot for you. Regarding outdoor recreation venues, it is crucial to students that the place is near trees, offers a lot of comfort, is quickly accessible from the university building, and can be used indefinitely. Similar points were also crucial to the respondents regarding the features of indoor recreation places: they should offer enough comfort, have a comfortable room temperature, and be quickly accessible and quiet. Characteristics that are less important to students concerning recreation sites, whether outdoor or indoor, are the reservability of the rooms/locations and offers for creative use.

Take action!

Many thanks to all the students who took the time to participate in the survey! We want you to know that your feedback is important to us and will be diligently processed. Together with other TUM stakeholders, we would like to improve the situation regarding recreational opportunities at the TUM campuses based on the survey results in the next step. We are committed to providing you with more recreational opportunities in the future that meet student requirements and needs.