November 2023
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This conference focused on provision of mental health support for students in higher education.
With DfE setting the target for all universities to sign up to Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter Programme by September 2024, the conference brought together policymakers, regulators and stakeholders to discuss the development of a whole-university approach to improving student mental health.
The conference was an opportunity to examine key issues against the backdrop of a range of significant initiatives and developments, including:
- the allocation of £15m for student mental health provision from the Office for Students, including additional support for students in their transition to university
- the Government’s commitment to establish a national review of university student suicides
- the creation of the Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce, which will deliver a plan to better identify at-risk students by May 2024
- a University Student Commitment on sensitively dealing with disciplinary issues, and targets for HEIs to improve processes
We are pleased to have been able to include keynote sessions with Professor Edward Peck, Higher Education Student Support Champion, Department for Education; Chair, Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce; and Vice-Chancellor, Nottingham Trent University; Dr Gareth Hughes, Charter Content Development Lead and Psychoeducation Lead, Student Minds; Dr Holly Brown, Policy Advisor, UCAS; and Dr Omar Khan, Chief Executive, Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education.
Key areas for discussion included:
- the University Mental Health Charter Programme: implementation priorities - achieving potential benefits of bringing institutions together to improve mental health at a university-wide level
- preparing students: support for transition into higher education - strategies for schools, colleges and universities to provide the skill sets needed by students to adjust into the HEI environment
- those most in need: identification of at-risk students - provision of effective mental health and wellbeing services - suicide prevention - provision of timely and compassionate support
- duty of care: options for an HEI statutory requirement - potential implications for both students and universities - issues related to GDPR and student confidentiality requirements
- collaboration: developing effective partnerships between HEIs, local services and health providers - practicalities for collaboration and data sharing
- cross-sector improvement: strategies for enabling sharing and learning from best practice - tackling variation of provision across universities
The conference was an opportunity for stakeholders to consider the issues alongside key policy officials who attended from the Department for the Economy, NI; DfE; DoH, NI; IfATE; and the Welsh Government.
