Was Locating SFU Surrey Above Central City Mall a Good Idea?

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Central City Mall | Photo 03

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In 2002, Simon Fraser University decided to make a branch campus in Surrey. Currently, the campus is located in Central City Mall, Surrey Central, right above the mall. The location of the campus made it a convenient choice for newly graduated high school students living near Surrey to attend. The campus offered many attractive programs such as megatronics, interactive arts and technology, business, and some sciences.

The campus itself is fairly small, most classrooms are sized to seat roughly 50-100 students. The small class sizes were meant to encourage and enable a greater learning experience. The campus also has plenty of study areas which allow for places where students could work in groups while other areas such as the library allow for a quiet study environment. However, because SFU Surrey is located in the Central City Mall, many students often find themselves pondering whether they should attend classes or go shopping instead, especially if they know the lecture they are about to attend is going to be very boring. As a current SFU Surrey student, I have experienced and been put in these situations. The fact that students know that they be could be shopping and relaxing just one floor below made it both difficult to want to study in the campus or go to lectures.

Unlike SFU's Surrey Campus, the Burnaby Campus is located up in the mountains, isolated from malls, theatres and other entertainments. This eliminates possible distractions for students and provides them an environment that promoted studying and learning. Although the Surrey campus offers a similar, or an even better facility, its location deteriorates what the campus is trying to encourage: studying. Near the campus, there are pubs, recreation centres, many stores, and many fancy restaurants such as Macdonalds. Sometimes during lectures, all I can think about is that juicy Big Mac I am going to eat for lunch or the new pair of shoes I am planning to buy. And when I'm in the library during evening, I ask myself why I am studying when I could be underaged drinking down at the pub with my friends and having tons of fun.

So was locating SFU Surrey in Central City a good idea? Yes, it offers greater convenience for attending school and planning activities. No, a mall and a campus don't go well together.