Edinburgh Napier University

  The quality of educational buildings can considerably affect teaching and learning processes. Literature shows that there is a significant relationship between students’ thermal perception and their performance. The UK higher education buildings host many students from all over the world who have diverse backgrounds, perceptions and preferences toward their learning environment. The existing standards for optimum internal thermal condition in higher education learning environments consider students thermal sensation and requirement in a typical learning environment without addressing the impact of students’ background. This study aims to evaluate students’ thermal sensation and preferences in an architecture studio at Coventry University during heating season of 2016 with reflation to their background. The result from 110 questionnaires, which are filled by students at the same time with temperature measurement inside the space, reveals that students’ background and cultural differences can influence on students thermal sensation. The outcome of this research provides better understanding about students’ thermal requirement in higher learning environments with relation to their background. This result will help the Building Management System (BMS) to control the learning environment with relation to students’ perceptions which results in improving students’ productivity and wellbeing.