A plan to spend over £40,000 on Google-style “nap pods”at a top Scottish university has been branded “ridiculous”.
Nap pods are common at the offices of tech firm Google and now students at Edinburgh University want them in their main library to raise student satisfaction.
A student-led “think-tank” wrote a 30-page report on why two rooms should be converted to each contain two pods.
The pods cost up to £10,000 each to which has to be added the cost of converting the rooms.
Although the idea won 53% support among undergraduates, the idea has been dismissed as “trash” by many students who want to see the money spent elsewhere.
The think-tank, called the Buchanan Institute, stated in its report: “Student satisfaction for the university is low (120th in the UK according to the 2017 Complete University Guide) and one major factor contributing to this can be student welfare and comfort.
“Harvard Medical School’s Dr Charles Czeisler has argued that sleep is the “third pillar” of health directly linked with wellbeing and productivity. Dr Czeisler has highlighted the consequences of sleep deprivation on one’s health, productivity, alertness and awareness.”
But writing on social media, several students mocked the idea.
Jess Killeen wrote: “This is the most ridiculous motion I have ever read.
“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’.”
Another student simply wrote: “Vote. Against. This. Trash.”
Another quipped: “This is literally my definition of what happens when liberals at a rich university think about political change.
The 53% vote was taken at a recent student union meeting and is now the subject of an online vote by the entire student body. If passed, it will be put as a formal request to the university, who will have to pick up the bill.
The nap pods at Google’s offices are spherical plastic beds, raised off the ground, designed for mid-shift cat naps.
Similar pods have also been installed at several other start-up companies, airports and in universities in the United States.
