Health Promoting Universities
Universities are settings of life and workplaces for about 760.000 employees and about 2.9 million students in Germany. As an important education and research institution the university has impact on jobs of educating mediators, potential managers and decision-makers. By incorporating health promotion into the processes, policies and daily practices of the institution, universities have the potential to promote the health of students and staff, but also to have an influence on other societal domains.
German Network Health Promoting Universities
The German Network of Health Promoting Universities has been established in 1995. It was founded by the Lower Saxony Association for Health (Landes vereinigung für Gesundheit und Akademie für Sozialmedizin Niedersachsen e. V.) and the Lower Saxony Association for Research in Health Sciences (Forschungsverbund Gesundheitswissenschaften Niedersachsen, FGN). The network is open to all universities who are interested in participating. We particularly invite potentially supporting institutions, organizations dealing with health promotion, representatives of different interest groups and decision-makers in universities to join the network.
Our aims
The network aims to initiate and support health promoting living and working conditions at universities and other institutions of higher education like university colleges. An important aim is the participation of all groups working, studying and teaching at universities. Existing projects shall be interconnected. According to the salutogenetic approach, the network focusses on the following main topics:
- Which are the conditions that are relevant to health in the university?
- How is health produced and sustained in the setting university?
Related to these themes, conferences (lectures, workshops and discussions) are organized in order to initiate and support health promoting developments in universities and involved institutions. Our aim is to provide fresh impetus for both structural and individual approaches for health promotion in the university setting. The network builds on the Ottawa-Charter for Health Promotion and the settings-based approach and on the Okanagan Charter for Health Promoting Universities. The network has developed the German "Quality criteria of Health Promoting Universities", which summarize the guiding principles for the network activities
Our work
Participants from universities and other institutions of higher education constitute the network that arranges regular meetings at member universities. In addition, workshops and conferences on specific topics are held to encourage both academic and practice-based exchange of results and experiences related to health promoting universities. Moreover, the network supports and promotes existing projects of participating universities and also advocates at the local, federal and national level for political and financial support for health promoting universities. The activities of the network are co-ordinated by the Lower Saxony Association for Health (Landesvereinigung für Gesundheit und Akademie für Sozialmedizin Niedersachsen e. V.). This association has many years of experience in the domain of health promotion and co-ordination of networks.
Speaker international affairs
Prof. Dr. Christiane Stock
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institut für Gesundheits- und Pflegewissenschaft
CVK - Augustenburger Platz 1 /13353 Berlin
Tel.: 0049 (0)30 450 529 139
E-Mail:
christiane.stock@charite.de
http://igpw.charite.de
International Health Promoting Universities and Colleges
Health promoting universities are globally organised in the network "International Health Promoting Universities and Colleges" (IHPU&C). It consists of 12 national networks from different countries, for example Canada, New Zealand or Mexico. The German Network Health Promoting Universities (AGH) is represented in this network.
You will find further informations about health promoting universities and the
IHPU&C on:
www.healthpromotingcampuses.org
