University: look at what you’ve got
Columnist Hicham El Ouahabi is surprised at the proliferation of initiatives at universities to improve students’mental health. ‘Although well-intentioned, they are often high-impact for students who are already uncomfortable in their own skin. Getting information, sending e-mails, application procedures and administrative issues can feel like an overwhelming hurdle.’
The range of student psychologists, phone lines, online self-help programmes, workshops and training courses to increase the student well-being continues to expand. But the question is whether this actually leads to progress? Student well-being has been in decline for years.
Although the initiatives are well-intentioned, they are often inaccessible to students who are already feeling ill at ease. Getting information, sending emails, completing registration procedures and sorting out administrative issues are tasks that can feel like overwhelming barriers, especially when someone is already feeling vulnerable.
Student well-being is of course linked to many other aspects of life, such as personal relationships, home life, financial circumstances and another personal problems. And naturally students also have an individual responsibility when it comes to their well-being and their studies. They need to ask for help when they need it, reflect on their learning process critically and observe positive role models. However, the individual responsibility of students themselves does not absolve the university of its own role in advancing the welfare of its students. The university need not wait for decisions to take place in the political arena, but should take the lead and adapt or simplify existing structures.
Instead of continually launching additional support facilities, the university should adapt and simplify existing structures. In an increasingly flexible world, offering hybrid lectures (both livestream and face-to-face) and more effective distribution of exams would not go amiss. In addition, introducing several timetable-free weeks could have a positive impact on the well-being of students. This could be accompanied by increasing the number of contact hours per week. Rest periods are essential to a healthy balance between study and relaxation. The advantage of these sustainable adjustments is that every student will automatically benefit from them. The benefits for the university include cost savings, improved academic performance and satisfaction.
Sometimes reorganising existing elements can be more effective than endlessly expanding various support options. It’s like redecorating your living room: you can add new stuff and clutter everything up, but sometimes it’s better to rethink and reorganise the stuff and things you already have. The organising guru Marie KondÅ would say ‘Does it spark joy?’. And it is precisely that joy that would form the compass with which the university should navigate when it comes to the well-being of its students.
