Leadership

Collaborative leadership and effective governance is key in supporting student mental health and wellbeing.

'Leadership' is one of the four priority areas of the University's Student Mental Health Strategy, alongside: Mental Health Promotion; Mental Health Support; and Impact.

Our aim

• We want to establish effective governance and leadership arrangements to support implementation of this strategy.
• We want to encourage collaborative leadership in the whole University community to support student mental health and wellbeing, aiming for a sector-leading approach.
• We want to strengthen academic oversight for the strategy to foster strong connections into the University’s education and research.

What we are currently doing

• Our Director of Student Wellbeing provides a coordination point for taking forward actions aligned to our student mental health strategy.
• We have developed a student mental health action plan to focus activity and help to track progress.
• We have established a multi-disciplinary strategy task group to oversee implementation.
• We have invested in additional student support services.
• We have reviewed key policy areas with improved mental health in mind.
• We have commissioned an external review to propose a refreshed strategic direction and to guide future planning for student mental health.

What we want to do in future

• We will publish a revised student mental health action plan aligned to this refreshed strategy, and informed by external review.
• We will strengthen academic oversight for implementation through reviewing our governance structures for student mental health and wellbeing and establishing a new strategy leadership group, with Deans of Students in each College taking a leading role
• We will develop connections with the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, to foster collaborative working on student mental health.
• We will continue targeted policy review to support improved student wellbeing.
• We will align our work on student mental health and wellbeing with the University’s developing work on staff mental health and wellbeing.