News

Following recent announcements and guidance by the UK government about COVID-19, the AMOSSHE Executive Committee and National Office team have made some decisions about how to manage upcoming AMOSSHE events. Here’s our current position on this.

We’re continuing to review the situation and we’ll provide further updates about our work when appropriate.

If you have any questions or concerns please get in touch with the National Office team at info@amosshe.org.uk.

AMOSSHE one day events

AMOSSHE had planned to hold two continuing professional development day events in May. Considering the uncertainty of the current situation and the pressures faced by our members, the Executive Committee has decided to postpone these events until the new academic year.

AMOSSHE National Conference

The AMOSSHE National Conference is currently due to take place in Newcastle upon Tyne from 8 to 10 July 2020. At present we are planning to go ahead with this conference. However, in light of the most recent UK government advice, we are keeping this under active review, and will consider this again at our Executive Committee meeting taking place on 27 March. AMOSSHE will be guided by the information issued by the UK and devolved governments, so it’s possible that our decision will change accordingly.

Further information, including details about bookings and early bird discounts available for residential places, will be available after the Executive Committee meeting.

Look after yourself as well as others

Here at AMOSSHE we realise that this is a very challenging time for our members and everyone working to support and enable students in higher education. Remember to look after yourself as much as possible in the midst of the pressure, and we encourage our members to reach out to our network for professional support and advice to help you steer your way.

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

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for winter 2020: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 2.9 MB).

In line with AMOSSHE's strategy, published in the autumn, we've been working to engage with higher education associations and colleagues around the world to share and learn from international expertise.

Find out in our winter bulletin what we've been up to, as well as updates about our recent professional development events in the UK. Our Winter Conference earlier this month was our biggest yet, focusing on mental health and wellbeing, and with restructures, student hubs and consolidating services big news for our members, in December we explored the challenges and opportunities for Student Services in this area.

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, The Student Services Organisation welcomes the launch of the University Mental Health Charter and its approach of defining key principles of good practice to improve staff and student mental health and wellbeing.

As part of the steering group for the charter, AMOSSHE worked closely with Students Minds and colleagues across the UK higher education sector to help shape the development of charter, and AMOSSHE members across the country have contributed their expertise and research, making this a truly sector-wide collaborative effort.

Jayne Aldridge, Chair of AMOSSHE said: “The introduction of this critical document signals an important step in supporting the wellbeing of everyone who studies or works within UK higher education.”

AMOSSHE's strategy as a professional association for Student Services leaders closely aligns to the vision of the charter: to enable higher education providers to continue to promote the mental health and wellbeing of all members of the university community. AMOSSHE aims to nurture a collaborative, skilled, passionate and empowered movement of Student Services leaders and partners to deliver innovative, impactful, world-class services that are proven to enhance the holistic experience and enable student and institutional success. The University Mental Health Charter will be a key tool to help achieve that vision, especially with its focus on students and staff alike.

Now that the charter is available for the sector to utilise, AMOSSHE will work with Student Services professionals to explore how to engage effectively with the key principles and resources. Representatives from Student Minds are leading a workshop to develop how Student Services can work with the charter at AMOSSHE's Winter Conference in February 2020.

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for autumn 2019: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 2 MB).

This autumn AMOSSHE published a five year strategy outlining the guiding values, mission and strategic priorities for our professional association. In this bulletin find out about our strategy, and also meet the Student Services leaders who were elected this year to join our Executive Committee. This team of volunteers sets the direction for AMOSSHE and helps to shape our membership benefits and events.

Talking of events, the bulletin features a roundup of AMOSSHE's latest continuing professional development event about safeguarding and duty of care, and includes details of our upcoming events programme for the 2019/20 academic year. If you're interested in joining AMOSSHE to access our network of sector leaders, our online resources, and discounted entry to our professional development events, the bulletin also has details about membership for 2019/20.

The AMOSSHE Executive Committee, in consultation with members at over 180 higher education providers, has developed our professional association’s strategy for 2019 to 2024 (click image to view - PDF 2 MB).

The strategy includes a statement of our organisation’s values, mission, guiding principles, and strategic priorities.

Beginning with an overview of AMOSSHE’s membership and our members’ Student Services, the strategy goes on to articulate the unique value proposition of UK Student Services, and a vision of what our professional association seeks to achieve by 2024. Then there’s our mission statement: what we will do to achieve our vision. The mission is driven by a sustainable five year strategy founded on values-based guiding principles, which focuses on three key strategic priorities.

AMOSSHE is looking for contributors to lead sessions at our National Conference 2020!

The AMOSSHE National Conference is the UK’s foremost opportunity for Student Services leaders to share expertise and good practice, develop strategy and skills, and build professional networks. The key themes for this conference are inspiration, design and excellence.

The conference takes place from Wednesday 8 to Friday 10 July 2020 at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

We want your proposals for informative and stimulating workshops or presentations that will engage delegates and contribute to everyone’s understanding and professional development.

Being part of the AMOSSHE National Conference programme is a prestigious professional development opportunity. You can raise your personal profile, draw attention to your work, benefit from peer perspectives, and develop new networks of colleagues with similar interests and areas of expertise.

Find out all about the conference and call for proposals, and submit your session proposal, here: National Conference 2020: call for session proposals.

Please submit your session proposals by 17:00 on Monday 24 February 2020.

Here's the AMOSSHE bulletin for summer 2019: a roundup of AMOSSHE news, events, and more (click image to view - PDF 12 MB).

This summer the AMOSSHE National Conference 2019 took place in Birmingham. Over 300 people took part, exploring the themes of building communities and strengthening collaboration, with a focus on evidence-based practice. This bulletin gives an overview of some highlights from the conference, including the inspiring keynote speakers and pictures from our 1920s-themed gala dinner.

Also, the bulletin features a roundup of AMOSSHE's latest continuing professional development events, and details of how to join AMOSSHE in the 2019/20 academic year. Membership gives you access to the AMOSSHE network of sector leaders, as well as online resources, discounted continuing professional development events, and opportunities for research funding, international exchange visits, and more.