Role of Universities in Nurturing Students’ Psychological Wellbeing

The years a student spends at university represent a significant landmark in his or her life. This phase of life is often characterised by a feeling of excitement and opportunities. Nonetheless, it is also a time of immense challenges that exert a great strain on the psychological state of a student. A university has a role to play in providing a platform for structuring their psychological moulds.
One of the most fundamental aspects of this responsibility, as it appears, is extending support. This starts with the individuals who will likely have the most interaction with the students on a day-to-day level. They may be the teachers and staff in the department. They should be the first ones to recognise any changes in the behaviour of the students. Such issues might include the lowering of grades, truancy, withdrawal from social events, erratic behaviour, or complaining of fatigue, for example. 
However, as soon as these concerns have been established, there should be a clear and empathetic mechanism for intervention. This means that the teachers and the departmental staff should be empowered to make contact with the students they feel might need such support. This is an interaction that might prove to be crucial, as it might be the catalyst for the student. What is crucial, however, is the fact that should the behaviour be on-going or of concern, the teacher or the staff member should have a clear mechanism for reporting the behaviour to someone who is in charge, such as the head of the department. This person, therefore, has the onus of ensuring that the student is assessed and, where need exists, linked to professional educational psychological support services. As a consequence, there is no student who is left out, and those that need support are linked to the resources.
More importantly, however, for the efficient management of such referrals and for the efficient provision of expert-level services, it is imperative that a full-time psychological educational expert counsellor be appointed in each university, who will be the “hub” of the entire mechanism for the support of the mental health of the students of the university. The expertise of such a person will be invaluable for the initial assessment of the problem, for the provision of short-term counselling, for the development of the support plan for the individual student, and for the referral of students to outside specialist services if necessary. In addition, the full-time nature of such a person will be absolutely essential for liaison with the other departments of the university for the development of the integrated support mechanism.
In addition to all these personal interventions, it is also important for the university to develop a conducive environment for the university community. These are all proactive measures, and they can be very effective in the control of psychological issues among students. For example, exam phobia or anxiety is one of the most common problems faced by a large number of students, and it has a significant impact on their performance. It will be very helpful if the university arranges seminars or workshops for the students on how to overcome these problems emphasising effective stress management, positive thinking and confidence building.
Similar to the case of time management, students also have challenges in the management of their time, and this has led to stress and feelings of overwhelm. It will be very helpful for students to have a workshop on the importance of time management, the need to prioritise their tasks and goals, and the negative consequences of procrastination, among other issues. Other issues to be addressed in the workshop include the need for students to be resilient, the importance of relationships, and the need for students to understand the importance of sleep and nutrition, among other issues.
In addition, it is also important for the universities to de-stigmatise mental health. This can be done through awareness campaigns, including the mental health education component in the orientation programme for students. It will be very helpful for students to feel free to talk about their mental health without the stigma of being discriminated against, so that the small problems they have will not develop into major problems. There is also the need for the university to ensure that it provides accessible information on mental health services.
In other words, the university’s task is not only the transmission of knowledge but also the promotion of the overall growth of the student, because it has come to be realised that there is a direct correlation between psychological well-being and success in academia and overall growth. In this way, the university can create an environment where the student does not only succeed but truly thrives, not only through the preparation of the staff to recognise and report potential problems but also through the creation of a network of referrals to a dedicated and full-time psychological educational expert counsellor and the creation of a rich calendar of proactive programmes for the student. This, too, is an act of faith, but this time in the potential of the next generation of leaders and citizens of the world.
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The writer is Assistant Professor of English at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka