ABSTRACT
Institutions of higher education play a vital role in promoting not only academic excellence but also the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of students. In urban campuses where buildings are connected by public streets, safety concerns extend beyond institutional boundaries to adjacent routes frequently used for commuting and inter-building mobility. This study examined students’ perception of safety within campus premises and along nearby streets at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde in Manila City to inform campus safety and security planning.
A descriptive mixed-method research design was employed, integrating quantitative survey data and qualitative thematic analysis. Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by 293 undergraduate students. The survey captured demographic characteristics, transportation modes, perceived safety inside and outside campus, time-of-day differences, and awareness or experience of unwanted incidents. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential tests, including paired-samples t-tests, repeated measures ANOVA, Mann–Whitney U tests, Kruskal–Wallis tests, and Welch ANOVA, while open-ended responses were examined through thematic coding.
The results indicate that students perceive significantly higher levels of safety within campus premises than along adjacent streets. Perceived safety also varies significantly across different times of the day, with daytime periods associated with higher safety perceptions than evening or midnight hours. However, no significant differences were found in safety perception based on gender, transportation mode, or awareness of incidents. These findings provide evidence-based insights for improving environmental design, mobility systems, and security strategies in urban higher education institutions.
Keywords: campus safety, safety perception, urban campus environments, adjacent streets, student mobility, environmental design, campus security planning
INTRODUCTION
Institutions of higher education play an important role in fostering environments that support not only academic achievement but also students’ physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. A safe campus environment contributes significantly to students’ learning experiences, social participation, and overall sense of belonging. When students perceive their surroundings as safe, they are more likely to remain on campus for academic collaboration, participate in extracurricular activities, and engage more fully in university life.
In many urban universities, however, campus spaces are not confined to enclosed institutional boundaries. Academic buildings are often distributed across public streets, requiring students to regularly navigate adjacent urban environments when commuting, transferring between buildings, or accessing transportation routes. As a result, students’ daily mobility frequently extends beyond campus premises into surrounding streets where environmental conditions such as lighting, visibility, pedestrian activity, and security presence may vary. These factors can influence students’ perceptions of safety and may shape behaviors such as route selection, transportation choices, and willingness to remain on campus during evening hours.
Perceived safety is therefore a critical variable in campus planning and security management. While institutions often implement safety measures such as guards, surveillance systems, and transport services, these interventions may not fully address students’ lived experiences or emotional responses to space. Identifying where students feel safe or unsafe, and understanding the factors that shape these perceptions, can provide valuable insights for improving environmental design, mobility systems, lighting strategies, and security protocols.
Despite the growing body of literature on campus safety and environmental criminology, many studies focus primarily on safety conditions within institutional boundaries, such as dormitories, academic buildings, or enclosed campus spaces. Relatively fewer studies examine students’ perceptions of safety in the transitional spaces between campus facilities and the surrounding urban environment, particularly in universities where academic buildings are distributed across public streets. In urban campuses like De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, students frequently traverse adjacent streets when transferring between buildings or accessing transportation, exposing them to environmental and social conditions beyond institutional control. These areas form an essential part of students’ daily mobility routes, yet they are often overlooked in campus safety assessments. Moreover, existing research has tended to examine safety perception in isolation, without simultaneously considering spatial context, time of day, transportation patterns, and exposure to incidents. Consequently, there remains a need for empirical studies that systematically examine students’ perception of safety across both campus premises and adjacent urban streets while integrating spatial, temporal, and mobility-related factors. Addressing this gap can provide valuable insights for developing more comprehensive and context-sensitive campus safety and security planning strategies.
Given the complex nature of urban campus environments, a systematic assessment of students’ safety perceptions both inside campus premises and along adjacent streets is essential. This study aims to examine students’ perception of safety in these settings as a basis for evidence-based campus safety and security planning. Guided by the following research questions:
RQ1: How do students perceive their level of safety within campus premises?
RQ2: How do students perceive their level of safety along streets adjacent to the campus?
RQ3: What environmental and social factors influence students’ perceptions of safety and unsafety in campus and surrounding areas?
RQ4: Do students’ perceptions of safety significantly differ according to location (within campus premises versus adjacent streets) and time of day?
RQ5: What safety-related improvements and interventions do students recommend to enhance campus safety and security planning?
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