Momentous news! Several innovative university mental health projects worth over £14.5 million announced today

Today university mental health received a £14.5 million boost, as the successful projects in the Office for Students’ recent funding call ‘Supporting a step change in student mental health’, were announced. The funding will support 10 ambitious collaborations across the UK, and Student Minds’ are directly involved with three of the innovative mental health partnership projects. 

About the news, Rosie Tressler, CEO of Student Minds commented;

“This really is a momentous day for the health and wellbeing of all who will study and work in Higher Education. Millions of people’s lives will be positively impacted by the collaborations that the OFS funding and match investment from universities has enabled. Whether a student or employee is experiencing mental illness and needs rapid access to quality services, has a temporary problem requiring different types of support or they just aren’t yet thriving or finding their purpose, these projects will mean improvements for students and university communities across this spectrum of experiences. 

There will be innovative projects taking place across several key areas where there is a need for increased understanding and new practice. We’re really pleased that this is all with a key principle of co-production built in, a recognition that we must develop innovative approaches with communities and not just ‘for’ them. This funding news will not only impact those directly involved, but the learning across these collaborations will feed into wider national initiatives supporting continued improvement, such as the development of Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter. 

At Student Minds we’re delighted to be directly involved in three of these transformational collaborations. Through these grants, we’ll be driving innovation with multiple universities, students’ unions and connected organisations in three key areas; curriculum and pedagogy, international students’ health, and city-wide health partnerships with the NHS.

Of course, there is a lot more to do across our education and health sectors beyond the projects announced today. Beyond the 10 successful partnerships, there were another 38 bids that go unfunded, showing that there is a lot of vision and potential for further work to address other gaps across the UK. I hope that today’s news encourages more funders and supporters to step up and invest in the health and futures of our university communities and millions of young people - the people who are, and in future will be - at the forefront of solving society's biggest challenges.”

Student Minds are delighted to be directly involved in the development of the three following partnership projects; 

1. Education for Mental Health: Enhancing Student Mental Health through Curriculum and Pedagogy; led by University of Derby, in partnership with Kings' College London & SMaRteN; Aston University; Student Minds and Advance HE. This project will create an evaluated, national online toolkit for academics that provides evidence informed guidance on creating and providing curriculum, pedagogy and assessments that facilitate better student mental health while improving educational outcomes. This material will also be used to develop a national module for the PGCertHE, aligned with Advance HE’s fellowship accreditation, ensuring that new academics, nationally, have the knowledge and skills to support mental health and learning through their teaching. This innovation has the potential to transform the role of curriculum and pedagogy in supporting good wellbeing across the entire sector. 
2. International Student Mental Health – Good Practice Guidance and intervention case studies; led by University of Nottingham in partnership with University of Nottingham Students’ Union , Student Minds; SOAS and SOAS SU; University of Leeds and Leeds University Union; Campus Life. For international students, the transition to a UK university involves substantial adaptation. Many carry a weight of expectation and pressure to achieve from families, or have concerns about crises back home and mental health, support services and medication are viewed very differently in different cultures. This project will discover what works in improving international students’ mental health – both in terms of how institutions can effectively engage and coproduce approaches with international students and how we can establish more culturally competent services. This best practice guidance, built on practical, evaluated activities, will then be shared across the UK and beyond. 
3. Student Mental Health Partnerships; led by University of West England, in partnership with University of Bristol; University of Sheffield: University College London; Imperial College London; University of Manchester; University of Liverpool; Student Minds; Universities UK; NHS England; NHS Confederation Mental Health Network. This project aims to improve care for students in need of mental health support through the development and evaluation of local partnerships between universities, the NHS and Students’ Unions connected together through a National Learning Collaborative. The project aims to improve efficiency of partnership working between universities and the NHS locally, and between regional partnerships and the national level, to understand and share the impact of different models of regional partnership, and advance the impact of partnership working between the HE Sector and the NHS nationally.

To find out about the other projects funded today visit here.

Over the coming months Student Minds will be working with our partners behind the scenes in order to get the project teams and groundwork in place for these projects. You can stay up to date with this work and any job opportunities as this progresses by signing up to our newsletter. To contact Student Minds email: [email protected].