Transcript HUG
Student Support Services www.swansea.ac.uk Healthy Universities, Community Cohesion & Safeguarding – making connections Sarah Huws-Davies Director of Student Services www.swansea.ac.uk Healthy Universities - Approach ‘Healthy Universities’ is one application of the healthy settings approach, which is well-established in other settings e.g. Healthy Schools; Health Promoting Hospitals. The approach reflects an appreciation that: “Many risk factors are interrelated and can be best tackled through comprehensive, integrated programmes in appropriate settings where people live, work and interact.” • Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (Northern Ireland), 2002 www.swansea.ac.uk What is a Healthy University? A Healthy University: “aspires to create a learning environment and organisational culture that enhances the health, wellbeing and sustainability of its community and enables people to achieve their full potential.” www.swansea.ac.uk Potential benefits In the UK, there are 164 HEIs with 2.5million students and 378,000 staff (HESA, 20011/12). Investing in the health and wellbeing of your campus community is a winwin: • Improved student experience, retention and achievement • Improved health and well-being of campus community • Enhanced sense of ‘belonging’ to the community (campus and wider) • Throughput of engaged students and staff exerting a positive influence as local and global citizens within families, communities, workplaces and political processes. www.swansea.ac.uk Swansea’s vision Student Liaison Forum – Terms of Reference To support community cohesion by ensuring that Swansea is a city that welcomes and values students who value their community and ensures they are accounted for in strategic planning. This will be achieved by: • Encouraging an understanding and appreciation of the benefits students bring to the community in which they live • Enabling students to undertake the successful transition from supervised accommodation to living independently in the community in which they study www.swansea.ac.uk Swansea’s vision • Encouraging students to integrate with and participate in the life of their community in a positive way • Educating students in building positive community relations • Promoting a safe and secure learning environment • Signposting support for students who may be vulnerable • Informing public and institutional planning and policy development in relevant areas with the active involvement of students. www.swansea.ac.uk Supporting Strategic Plans Healthy Universities represents a cross-cutting and multi-faceted approach that supports key institutional and community agendas such as: • Recruitment and Retention • Student Experience • Employability • Sustainable Development • Safeguarding • Intercultural & Interfaith communication • Community Cohesion • Prevent www.swansea.ac.uk The Ottawa Charter’s action areas as a framework for Healthy Universities Build Healthy Policy Create Supportive Environments Assess health impact of the university's social and physical environments Implement Equality & Diversity Strategy Meet Health and Safety regulations Conduct staff and student satisfaction Surveys Develop specific health policies, e.g. Stress Management, Smoking, Bullying, Alcohol and Drugs Ensure that all policies and strategies incorporate health as a key criterion and take account of health issues Encourage active involvement of staff, students and local community in setting priorities, making decisions, planning strategies and implementing them Combine top down and bottom up approaches Implement Sustainable Development Strategy Develop Health Services Develop Personal Skills Review, audit and monitor current university health services Facilitate learning to prepare people to respond/cope with health issues Provide information, educate for health, enhance life skills for people to exercise more control over their own health and their environments and be empowered to make choices conducive to health Strengthen Community Actions University Respond to service user needs, health research and best practice Develop appropriate, inclusive and accessible services www.healthyuniversities.ac.uk Supporting a safe campus community Entry Points/Catalysts: www.healthyuniversities.ac.uk