University of Edinburgh students, responding to a poll conducted by the institution, largely voted to have nap pods installed in their campus as a means to increase student satisfaction, news reports say.
More than 1,900 students participated in the voting, with 1,616 in favor of installing four nap pods costing £10,000 each, the Scotsman reports. Although the school is not pressured to accept the student-proposed project, many students are clamoring for a nap on campus: about 93 percent of students responding to a recent survey of 1,500 said they have felt the need to have a nap while on campus, and about 76 percent said they needed to go home to get a nap they need.
A spokesperson for the Edinburgh University Students' Association told The Tab, the school newspaper, that the school administration will discuss the student proposal.
"Students have voted to endorse proposals to discuss provision of rest facilities with the University, who will take any further decisions on implementation," the spokesperson said.
If the school decides to approve the proposal and install the four nap pods, it might be able to raise the level of satisfaction among students. According to Daily Mail, a student-led think-tank called the Buchanan Institute reported that the university's student satisfaction level is pretty low - the 120th among all universities in the UK. The nap pods might help raise that up.
Google, which uses nap pods created by MetroNaps, has installed the expensive recharging units to encourage its workers to perform better. Sleep, according to Harvard Medical School's Dr Charles Czeisler, is directly linked to wellbeing and productivity.
Other students, however, don't like the idea of purchasing expensive sleeping pods.
"This is the most ridiculous motion I have ever read," one student wrote on social media in response to the proposal.
"How about we get enough study spaces for students or working disabled toilets or a more diverse range of books or equal and independent access to university buildings or pavements that aren't falling apart or funding for mental health programs or any number of things before we build 'nap pods'."
