News

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for winter 2021: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 4.7 MB).

This bulletin features updates on AMOSSHE's work this winter to support and enable our members and the wider higher education sector. Find out about our guidance for supporting students abroad, produced in collaboration with peer associations and institutions. Also, find insights into our research and professional development about student digital poverty and intersectionality.

Check out our list of upcoming events, including a conference about creating an anti-racist culture in higher education. And don't miss the chance to share your expertise by leading a session at our National Conference in July.

The bulletin also features updates from AMOSSHE's annual sponsors, whose support helps us deliver our programme of work and who help keep us in touch with developments and research in the sector.

Today AMOSSHE published guidelines for the managers of support services in UK higher education provider organisations about supporting students who are studying abroad.

Use these guidelines to help you refine your service provision, support your student-facing colleagues, and communicate with students.

These guidelines were collated from input by working groups and reviewers representing AMOSSHE The Student Services Organisation, HUCS (Heads of University Counselling Services), UMHAN (University Mental Health Advisers Network) and various higher education providers.

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for autumn 2020: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 3.7 MB).

This bulletin focuses on the hard work and dedication of Student Services professionals this autumn. While the start of the academic year is always a busy (and often stressful) time for Student Services, this is 2020, so the challenges have multiplied like never before.

Despite the pressures, AMOSSHE members have found time to contribute to sector-wide research about their work this autumn, and enhance their professional skills and knowledge. This bulletin gives an overview of all this, as well as details of our forthcoming professional development opportunities.

The bulletin also features updates from AMOSSHE's annual sponsors, whose support helps us deliver our programme of work and who help keep us in touch with developments and research in the sector.

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for summer 2020: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 3.1 MB).

This bulletin features a big thank you to everyone who look part in our virtual National Conference in July, and also some headline findings from member research into mental health and wellbeing service provision.

AMOSSHE is currently planning our continuing professional development programme for 2020/21. Find out more about our upcoming events and what we're planning.

This bulletin also features updates from AMOSSHE's annual sponsors, whose support helps us deliver our programme of work and who help keep us in touch with developments and research in the sector.

AMOSSHE is proud to have contributed to a major review of higher education Student Affairs and Services around the world. With 250 authors, advisors and editors from over 125 countries, Student Affairs and Services in Higher Education: Global Foundations, Issues, and Best Practices (third edition) is a truly global collaborative effort to capture the diverse frameworks, practices, models and services provided by Student Affairs and Services in higher education across the globe.

This is a comprehensive reference book for scholars, researchers and practitioners across the globe on all matters related to Student Services in higher education. It covers a vast breadth of issues including principles, values, theories and frameworks, professionalisation, research and scholarship, social justice, equality and gender issues, engagement, internationalisation, retention and graduate competencies, governance and student participation, leadership and migration. AMOSSHE's contribution is based on research from the 2016/17 academic year.

Due to the generous collaboration of IASAS (International Association of Student Affairs and Services) with peer sector associations, book is available online for free.

Read it here

The Office for Students, Student Minds and HEFCW (Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) are creating an online hub to support the wellbeing and mental health of students in England and Wales. This project will run for six months from late July to December 2020, giving students access to online mental health support, designed to respond to additional pressures caused by the pandemic.

The hub, called Student Space, is designed to complement the mental health support already in place through universities, colleges and NHS services in England and Wales, filling potential gaps in provision and ensuring that all students have access to support they need.

AMOSSHE has contributed to the planning discussions for Student Space. AMOSSHE Chair Jayne Aldridge said:

"AMOSSHE welcomes this announcement and the launch of Student Space to enhance the support for student mental health. We look forward to working with Student Minds and other sector bodies, students and staff to provide seamless provision with a positive impact."

Find out more about the project: New funds to boost student mental health through pandemic.

Racism and discrimination are unacceptable. The killing of George Floyd is a reminder that racism is a systemic challenge in our society. Sadly, this is true for the UK as well as for the USA. AMOSSHE, The Student Services Organisation is committed to creating communities based on dignity, respect and equal opportunities. The AMOSSHE Executive Committee and National Office stand in solidarity with Black colleagues, students, community leaders and all those fighting racial injustice and inequality across the world.

Everyone has the responsibility to understand and learn more about the impact of societal, structural, and institutional racism, and to work together to tackle this. It’s not just the responsibility of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) colleagues and students. It’s important that we listen to the voices of our Black colleagues and students when they describe their experiences of microaggressions, discrimination and racism and that we develop the skills and confidence to recognise and challenge these unacceptable behaviours. AMOSSHE aims to support our members in Student Services to do this, through our network, resources and professional development opportunities.

We are committed to promoting inclusive university communities that meet the diverse needs of our students. Our members can find professional development resources here about safeguarding and duty of care to all students, unconscious bias, and how Student Services can more effectively engage and support students from different racial, cultural and minority groups, so that these students feel comfortable, included and understood when accessing services.

We recently hosted a member discussion about access to and participation in higher education for underrepresented groups. And we’re planning to deliver a professional development event in the new academic year about understanding and appreciating intersectionality in order to effectively support students and staff.

We want to hear from our members to help us develop more resources and approaches to addressing racism in higher education. Contact us here.

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for spring 2020: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 4 MB).

Find out how our membership network of Student Services leaders has been responding to the pandemic crisis, putting student wellbeing and success at the heart of everything they do. Also, discover more about UK Student Services through the research we undertook late last year into the remit of our members' work, and the scale, scope and resources of counselling services.

As part of AMOSSHE's response to the COVID-19 situation, we've developed a programme of free webinars to support the sector with ongoing continuing professional development opportunities. Find out what's coming up, and join us!

This bulletin also features updates from AMOSSHE's annual sponsors, whose support helps us deliver our programme of work and who help keep us in touch with developments and research in the sector.

AMOSSHE is directed an Executive Committee of twelve members. Every year, half the roles on the committee become vacant, and all eligible members have the opportunity to nominate themselves to join the Executive team. This year, AMOSSHE members have voted to postpone the Executive elections in order to provide business continuity for our professional association and help ensure consistency of leadership through this unprecedented time of change.

This means that for 2020 only:

• The terms of office for the 12 current Executive Committee members are extended by 12 months.
• Executive elections for the six roles that would have become available in 2020 (Chair, Vice Chair and four Executive Member roles) are deferred until 2021.
• Executive elections for the remaining six roles (Vice Chair Operations, Vice Chair Professional Development and four Executive Member roles) are deferred until 2022.
• No eligible AMOSSHE members can nominate to join the Executive Committee in 2020.
• Some current Executive members will serve for more than eight consecutive years in an Executive role by the next time their role falls vacant, thereby contravening our Rules of Association in this instance only. They will each serve for one additional year.

You can find out more about the AMOSSHE Executive Committee here: Who are we? and the AMOSSHE Rules of Association here: AMOSSHE governance.

In February 2020 AMOSSHE hosted a conference in Bath to explore aspects of mental health and wellbeing for Student Services leaders in higher education. Looking back on the event, conference lead and AMOSSHE Executive Member Jill Stevenson (Dean of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and Director of Student Services, University of Stirling) reflects on what we all learned.

Big picture issues

It was a real privilege to co-chair the AMOSSHE Winter Conference with my Executive colleague, Simon Lee. This year’s theme was "mental health and wellbeing" which, as we all know, is probably the number one issue of concern for our students, their parents and supporters, and our staff who support them with such professionalism and dedication.

We really wanted to focus on some of the “big picture” issues, notably:

• What’s going on with student mental health and wellbeing, and why might that be?
• How can we take a whole-institution approach to delivering a student experience that respects, protects, promotes and enhances mental health and wellbeing?
• How can we better support our staff to stay well and deliver the best possible services to our students?
• What is the responsibility of a university in terms of protecting and enhancing student mental health and wellbeing? Where can we best add value? And where does our responsibility stop and that of our partners start?

We had some fantastic, wide ranging conversations about all these topics and more, and we were thrilled to have a range of brilliant speakers to spark debate and widen all our perspectives.

Inspiring insights

All of our speakers were excellent, but I was particularly moved by Dominique Thompson’s opening keynote, which explored some of the reasons why students are presenting more and more often with conditions such as anxiety and depression. Her observations on fear of failure, perfectionism and competitiveness were really compelling.

It was also great to make more of our pre-conference evening session and to provide more opportunities for structured and informal networking. Cathy Gallagher’s opening address that evening struck some powerful chords around the role of sport and physical activity in enhancing wellbeing, and the opportunities that we can explore to forge stronger partnerships between sport and student services.

All in all, I came away feeling inspired and optimistic about the future in Student Services, and full of ideas about how AMOSSHE and our members can incorporate new learning into our new strategy and operational plan.

Thank you to everyone who attended - we hope you found the conference as useful and thought-provoking as we did!

AMOSSHE members can find all the resources from the conference here: Mental health and wellbeing.

Watch these interviews from the conference on Twitter:

• Conference leads Jill Stevenson and Simon Lee introduce some of the key themes
• Opening keynote Dominique Thompson provides insights about student mental health
• Rosie Tressler from Student Minds discusses the University Mental Health Charter