Campus Santé

The Haute École de Santé – Vaud will move to its new Campus Santé for the 2026 academic year. The Campus Santé is located at in Chavannes-près-Renens, about 20 minutes by public transportation from the Lausanne train station. This project is funded by the Canton of Vaud to meet the socio-health system’s challenges and the shortage of healthcare personnel and will offer a modern and innovative working and training environment.

A campus serving healthcare education

Located just steps from Lausanne and Renens, the Campus Santé is part of the 2012–2017 legislative programme of the Canton of Vaud and results from political, scientific, and social reflection. Its main goals are to:

• Unify the HESAV / Haute École de Santé - Vaud (formerly spread across five sites) into one location,
• Create a clinical competence centre dedicated to simulation to improve undergraduate and continuing education and foster interprofessionality,
• Strengthen healthcare education to better serve the population of the Canton of Vaud.

Designed to be exemplary in terms of sustainability, it sits on a plot of more than ten hectares and offers an innovative, durable, and high-performance response to key healthcare challenges in the Canton of Vaud, including: workforce shortages, population aging, complex chronic conditions, the diversification of required expertise, and the use of digital tools.

The HESAV building itself is conceived as a work of architectural art dedicated to education and research, with an interior layout that emphasises flexibility and versatility. It reflects HESAV’s mission to offer a stimulating, sustainable, and adaptable environment that supports innovative teaching and research activities.

It will bring together HESAV’s 5 fields of study:

• Nursing
• Physiotherapy
• Midwifery
• Medical Radiology Technology
• Occupational Therapy
• The Preparatory Year program
• Continuing education programs for already graduated professionals

HESAV views this as a promising step to strengthen interprofessional collaboration in both education and research.

The Campus Santé is organized around three main buildings:

• HESAV Building: The center of the campus which welcomes more than 1,500 students and staff across five levels
• Interprofessional Simulation Centre (C4): Developed in collaboration with HESAV, UNIL (University of Lausanne), Institut et Haute École de la Santé La Source, and CHUV (University Hospital of Vaud), the C4 will serve as the simulation-based teaching center for health professions in the Canton of Vaud. HESAV is the key promoter and leader of the Coordinated Clinical Competence Center C4. It is designed to enhance clinical teaching through simulated practice environments.
• Student housing: A cross-shaped building, it will provide over 700 additional beds and will be managed by an external entitiy, the Fondation Maisons pour Étudiants Lausanne (FMEL).

Comprising five levels, the building covers 15,000 m² - the equivalent of eight ice rinks at the Vaudoise Arena or twelve Olympic-size swimming pools. A space matching HESAV’s ambitions, it is designed to encourage interaction, learning, and research.

The layout of the spaces will be organized as follows:

• Ground floor: reception area, cafeteria, and student meeting spaces
• 1st floor: 30 theoretical teaching rooms, some equipped to support innovative and interactive teaching methods
• 2nd floor: library, gym, relaxation room, and offices
• 3rd floor: 30 practical teaching rooms
• 4th floor: offices and formal and informal spaces for staff, lecturers, and researchers

Conceived as an open and inclusive living space, the future HESAV building offers spacious, bright, and fully accessible areas, including for people with disabilities. It promotes soft mobility, both indoors - through fluid circulation zones for movement, relaxation, work, and social interaction - and outdoors, with pleasant pedestrian pathways integrated into the surrounding landscape.

A landscaped terrace allows users to enjoy meals outdoors in a green and welcoming setting. Environmentally exemplary, the building aims for a high level of energy self-sufficiency and is set within a large landscaped park featuring dozens of tree and shrub species, crossed by a traditional irrigation channel. Its green roof becomes a convivial space, ideal for gatherings, activities, or celebrations, at the heart of a campus fully committed to sustainability.

HESAV aims to reinforce synergies between education, research and practice, helping address major challenges in the health system. The new environment is intended to foster collaboration, shared learning, and anticipation of future developments in healthcare.