A Healthy Campus Toolkit
Preliminary Guidelines and Recommendations
Students and staff health and wellbeing are fundamental priorities for all INGENIUM partners. Physical and mental health are foundational elements for students’ academic achievement and their success in day-today life.
These imperatives are strongly emphasised by the INGENIUM strategy for a Healthy Campus, aiming to:
- advocate and support a ‘Whole-Campus’ perspective to health and wellbeing;
- create a culture of wellbeing;
- create supportive campus environments;
- enhance mental health support;
- integrate health promotion and wellness initiatives into academic programs;
- foster collaboration and partnerships;
- foster community engagement.
The tripartite structure of the strategy includes an introduction (with information about context, needs and challenges within the alliance), a collection of best practices, and a set of recommendations for the most important areas of higher education: leadership, communication, core business, environment.
Among the guidelines and recommendations included in the document, there are some that highlight the importance of:
- re-enforcing Senior management commitment to the co-creation and implementation of health-related initiatives,
- creating communication campaigns and a bank of online materials on health and wellbeing (podcasts, videos, conferences),
- co-creating and advocating for accredited health offerings,
- creating adequate facilities for different needs (independent study, group work, socialising, relaxation, quiet spaces, physical activity),
- considering the impacts of environmental design (colour, light, greenspaces) on health and wellbeing.
The proposed recommendations and actions mirror, on the one hand, the reflections and suggestions made by the INGENIUM students during the INGENIUM Days, the views of the INGENIUM partners expressed via surveys circulated across the alliance, and the work done by the WP9.4 experts during their monthly meetings.
It is important to add that the core values emphasised in the Healthy Campus strategy are also embedded in the four main principles and commitments of the INGENIUM charter for a Healthy Campus.
The discourse on Healthy Campus initiatives encapsulates not merely a set of policies or practices, but a transformative ethos that underscores the intrinsic connection between well-being and academic success. Through the exploration of its evolution, policy frameworks, best practices, and recommendations, this document illuminates the diverse facets of the Healthy Campus paradigm and opens up new perspectives to improve health and wellbeing on our campuses.
The Alliance strategy for a healthy campus is based on shared good practice and a set of guidelines for well-being and physical activities, nutrition, disease and sedentary lifestyle prevention, mental health, risk behaviours, stress management, sustainability and social responsability.
