GCU wins Student Minds' Mental Health Charter Award

Glasgow Caledonian University has become Scotland's first - and one of just five institutions in the UK - to be awarded the Student Minds' Mental Health Charter Award.

The award recognises and benchmarks best practice in supporting mental health across the country's HE institutions.

GCU was one of just three UK universities selected by Student Minds in 2020 to trial the award and was one of 58 universities - and the only Scottish institution - to sign up this year.

Student Minds hopes the charter "will be an important tool to support cultural change in universities, improve wellbeing outcomes for students, staff and their communities and ensure mental health does not fall off the HE policy agenda".

Jackie Main, GCU's Director of Student Life, said: "We are thrilled that GCU is among the first universities in the UK to be recognised by Student Minds. This achievement is a testament to the commitment and hard work that the whole university community has put into prioritising the mental health and wellbeing of students and staff. Being part of the Charter programme has already resulted in a number of really positive enhancements to our approach and we look forward to building on this in our continued partnership with Student Minds."

A spokesperson for the organisation said: "At Student Minds, we are delighted to celebrate the first wave of institutions who put themselves forward for the University Mental Health Charter Award assessments. Pursuing the award is a statement of a university's commitment to improvement and development of better practice in university mental health.

"These awards are a demonstration of genuine commitment, hard work and investment on the part of these universities and the staff and students who have worked together to reach this milestone. They can be rightly proud of their achievements to date. Those receiving their award today have made an ongoing commitment to continual improvement and have been able to demonstrate significant and genuine progress towards a whole university approach, in line with the Charter Framework.

"Congratulations to these institutions. We are proud of everything they have achieved and the hard work they will do to create change and improve the mental health and wellbeing of their student and staff communities."

Students Minds says one in three students find being at university negatively impacts their mental health, with one in four having a diagnosed mental health issue.

Winning accreditation alongside GCU are University College London, the universities of Bristol and East London, and Hartpury University.