Well-being is a shared concern and requires influence

With over 300 students participating in everything from yoga to drag queen bingo, it is clear that the students desire community. I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to all those who participated in the Well-being Week activities and in the hard work of organising them. 

But of course, Josephine is right in pointing out that well-being must go beyond one single week of great events. Fortunately, the autumn Study Environment Survey (SMU) shows positive trends: Even more students at SDU are thriving and fewer feel lonely. These are encouraging results, and we need to build on them. 

For my part, I thrive when I’m invited to participate, and my engagement grows proportionally. I sense that this also applies to SDU’s students. And if so, this is a key question: How do we ensure that SDU students feel that they are active co-owners and co-creators of our University? 

This question will become particularly important when we introduce shorter master’s degree programmes and more part-time programmes in closer collaboration with the labour market. This will be a new and complex educational landscape that challenges the way we usually work with quality in teaching and education. The Reform means that some of our master’s degree programmes will be 75 ECTS credits and last only one calendar year instead of the current 120 ECTS credits and two academic years.  

So how do we retain and strengthen students’ opportunities for real influence in the future when many students will have a looser connection to SDU or be here for shorter periods of time? This is no simple task, but it also gives us the opportunity to create entirely new programmes and teaching in which well-being can be incorporated as a crucial element from the very beginning of the development process. 

Therefore, in the development of SDU’s new master’s degree landscape, we must pay special attention to how we include students in new ways in the future. Students should feel that they are making a real difference in the academic and social environments in which they are active. Among other things, we must focus on how we follow up on student feedback – both in cross-cutting studies of the study environment and in teaching evaluations. Does the feedback prompt any changes? If so, what can we do? And whatever the conclusion, it is crucial that we always acknowledge the students’ contributions and respond with clear justifications.  

All of this is ultimately about ensuring that SDU is perceived as ‘our university’. A place where we create and share knowledge, learn and develop in attractive environments, and where well-being, community and academic skills are connected.