The University of Otago must keep investing in its campus environment if it is to stay ahead of the competition, student services director David Richardson says.
Mr Richardson's comments come as two of the university's newest buildings - the Marsh Study Centre (more than $3 million) and the Unipol recreation centre in the University Plaza (more than $37 million) at Forsyth Barr Stadium - are proving popular with students.
However, despite the success of the two buildings, the university could not afford to rest on its laurels as other universities were ''working hard to catch up''.
Because the university attracted so many from outside Otago it was important it had a better campus environment and student experience than other universities, he said.
The Unipol recreation centre, which opened last year, showed how investing in new buildings could improve the student experience, he said.
The popularity of the new facility was shown by its use. There were 662,243 visits to the centre last year compared with 478,596 visits to the old Unipol in 2011.
The facility continued to be popular, with slightly more visits in the year to date than at the corresponding time last year.
The university was also pleased with how popular the Marsh Study Centre - formerly the Gardens Tavern - had been since it opened in February, with an average of 43 people using it at any one time during opening hours in April. The top floor of the building was particularly well frequented, he said.
''We were pretty thrilled about that, because we haven't really got to the cold weather, when we expect the numbers to go up,'' he said.
The feedback from students using the centre had been good and there had been few problems with intoxicated Castle St students causing problems at the facility.
The new centre would ease pressure on the library during exam times, he said.
