35% of all students say they feel lonely at university according to findings from a recent report commissioned by education experts Wonkhe and Pearson. The detailed study, which explored the connection between belonging, inclusion and mental health, showed there is a clear concern for student wellbeing – and that student mental health worries are becoming a significant, prevalent problem institution-wide.
Student wellbeing is increasingly topping the list of strategic priorities for higher education. Only this March did University Business report that mental health must be a ‘university-wide priority’ and the university community should together ‘create support systems and positive change to the future of mental health’ in higher education. The effects of the pandemic have been transformational for the sector, and wellbeing considerations have been pushed, quite rightfully, into focus.
With a strong correlation between engagement and wellbeing, positive student mental health is critical to ensure students reach their full potential whilst at university.
The recent Wonkhe and Pearson study welcomes some positive findings. Reporting on students’ general feelings of happiness and loneliness, ‘68% of respondents agree they feel happy at university, and for those who feel they belong it is 75% – and for those with average and above mental health it is 81%’. These reports of happiness levels amongst students are promising. Yet it’s important to balance them with students’ feelings of belonging. Wonkhe and Pearson found that of the students ‘who do not feel they belong, only 19% agree they feel happy at university, and 73% agree they feel lonely. 48% of those with lower than average mental health say they feel happy, and 50% say they feel lonely.’
There’s more to be done to support student mental health and student futures – and early intervention and the human touch is key. Mental health concerns can affect anyone at any time, and the worry is that students often won’t realise they’re experiencing struggles until they become overwhelmingly challenging. In these cases, the student won’t necessarily reach out for help, in part due to not knowing how, or where, to find support. So what can you do to make a difference?
Engagement can provide a powerful indicator to students who may be struggling and in need of support. By taking an objective and unbiased view of how a student is participating in their course, changes in engagement or disengagement can provide a timely prompt to offer support and guidance. Engagement analytics used in this way helps the institution and in particular, personal academic tutors to initiate a conversation and get up stream before the point of crisis.
Solutionpath is partnering with a growing number of universities across the UK to aid their support for student wellbeing. The StREAM Student Engagement Analytics Platform provides tools to not only help identify student who may need support with automated notifications but also manage interactions and its impact. The ability to refer students to central support services and record interactions creates a single source of truth for the institution which helps to encourage a stronger sense of connection between students and their university.
“We’ve connected all our support functions through the referral function in StREAM, making our processes far more streamlined than they ever were previously”
One of the latest institutions to onboard StREAM is the University of Worcester, who is using engagement analytics to strengthen support for their student nurses. ‘Throughout the pandemic, we have been putting strategies in place to increase nursing student support,’ explains Jenny Pinfield, Principal Lecturer in Nursing at University of Worcester. ‘StREAM is another vital tool in our toolkit – it can help us offer that crucial support to students and help us recognise if there are any issues and enable us to act swiftly.’
Engagement provides a universal and inclusive proxy for progression with clear indicators to activate intervention. Something we believe is a vital tool for every university especially as more hybrid methods of teaching and learning make it increasing challenging to identify when a student may be struggling.
The Solutionpath team knows supporting student mental health is critical to enable every student to reach their full potential. Not only do we help our clients to implement and use StREAM, using our platform and industry position to educate and raise awareness, but we actively do what we can to help students who are struggling through charitable fundraising.
In March, our team raised £1100 by walking a collective 113.27km as part of the Student Minds’ Step into Spring Challenge 2022. Student Minds is the UK’s student mental health charity, working to ‘transform the state of student mental health so that all in higher education can thrive.’ Naturally, that ethos is completely true to Solutionpath’s own values of supporting student wellbeing so students can achieve and succeed. Taking part in the walk is just one way for us to raise awareness and funds. Take a look at our team in action!
35% of all students say they feel lonely at university according to findings from a recent report commissioned by education experts Wonkhe and Pearson. The detailed study, which explored the connection between belonging, inclusion and mental health, showed there is a clear concern for student wellbeing – and that student mental health worries are becoming […]
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