Under Pressure: The Mental Well-being of Students

The image portrayed in the media these past few weeks on mental health issues among students is distressing and, sadly, the truth. Our society demands a lot of students, and this can become too much to handle. This is in no way a sign of individual weakness, but a sign that we should become more aware of the everyday dangers of mental health issues.  Besides creating awareness, concrete measures should be taken to reduce stress, by both the university and the students.

As Lijst Calimero, we are very happy to have kickstarted this process at the RUG. Last August, our previous faction asked the Board to start a campaign to raise awareness for mental health issues amongst students. By now, this plan has been fully developed and next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday a pilot of the RUG wellbeing week will be organized. This pilot will make students more aware of the problems surrounding stress, but also offers activities where students can learn to deal with stress. We believe that this is a great and very important development.

Lijst Calimero is focused on the quality of education. However, this is not limited to the content of your curriculum. The design of your programme and the environment in which students operate are also important factors. The environment has changed a lot the past few years. Get your diploma as soon as possible to lower the costs, but also work on your cv: that is a big deal, especially in combination with maintaining a social life and living on your own. It is great that the University of Groningen acknowledges this.

We are very happy to see that a national action plan has been developed by ISO, in cooperation with different educational institutions and medics specialised in students. The action plans asks the government and universities to take concrete measures to battle the low well-being of students. A delegation from Lijst Calimero joined the discussion as well. That the subject is taken seriously is hopefully a relief for extremely stressed students. ‘You are not alone, more people go through this’ is the message. In a nutshell the action plan contains five pillars where a university should focus on: raising awareness of the problems surrounding mental health, a stronger social academic bond and a safe study environment, more prevention, professional improvement in study guidance and a broader and better adapted offer of support.

A great step towards realising the first goal of the plan has been made with the campaign we have initiated. Next week, we will ask the Board during the university council meeting whether they will adopt the full action plan. We hope that they will pass these plans on to their successors and that it will have a place in the policy of the UG. Moreover, we will evaluate the number of students visiting the pilot week. If the week is well attended we will have another reason, besides the action plan, to call for more psychologists available to students.