Embedding health and sustainability
The UK Healthy Universities Network, convened and supported by the University of Central Lancashire’s Healthy & Sustainable Settings Unit, supports its members to develop and implement ‘whole university’ approaches to health, wellbeing and sustainability. It is part of a global movement calling upon higher education institutions to:
Network membership is currently free of charge.
Membership is open to universities and other higher education institutions within the UK. Associate membership is open to higher education institutions from outside the UK and other interested stakeholders from outside of the higher education sector.
This toolkit is designed to support HEIs that wish to adopt and/or embed a whole system Healthy University approach. It comprises ‘getting started presentations’, guidance packages, case studies, a self review tool, and information on useful publications and resources.
The Network comprises full and associate members and is convened by the University of Central Lancashire, which has pioneered the Healthy Universities approach since 1995. It has a small Leadership Team drawn from committed member universities and is overseen by a high-level Advisory Group comprising representatives from key UK bodies and public health and higher education sector organisations from the four UK nations.
In June 2015, the International Conference on Health Promoting Universities and Colleges took place in Canada, attended by 375 participants from over 30 different countries. A key output from this conference was the Okanagan International Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges.
Research and evaluation is an important part of the Healthy Universities process. It can generate evidence of effectiveness and contribute to learning and improvement.