Students gather to talk mental health
MORE than 15 universities are gathered for the ResLife Festival and student leader conference at Stellenbosch University (SU) this week to challenge and discuss the mental health crisis in higher education.
The five-day conference, in partnership with the Association of College and University Housing Officers International in Southern Africa, commenced yesterday, to give a platform to student leaders and staff members who are involved in student life.
Njabulo Maphumulo, the co-ordinator of SU’s medical school residences on the Tygerberg campus and an executive officer at the association, said the conference adopted a “strengths-based” approach and concentrated on the inherent strengths of individuals, groups and organisations, by deploying personal strengths and empowerment.
It was a platform for positivity and new energy, she said.
“The conference offers the best way to communicate with each other, to share ideas and to seek feedback from peers.
“Both formally, through the delivery of papers and the presentation of poster-sessions, and informally, through the one-on-one or small group conversations, a surprising amount of professional support and advice is given,” Maphumulo said.
“We are happy to welcome the delegates, staff and the student leaders to Stellenbosch University, the modern city of oaks, and we look forward to five days of memorable experiences and encounters with the rich culture of Africa and the student leadership movement under our annual motto “communities beyond borders.”
Association president Quintin Koetaan from the University of Free State said higher education was faced with a myriad challenges which invoked the kind of responses that were largely determined by the type of leadership prevalent at that time.
“It is our fervent hope that this platform is the start of great things which would make all of us to see things in the same way for the benefit of humanity,” Koetaan said.
Delecia Davids, the conference’s co-ordinator, said this year’s festival wanted to explore how communities were created and maintained across and beyond borders, against the backdrop of an ever-changing and unpredictable world.
Davids said some of the questions they hoped to engage were about how we connect people when the differences seem to be overwhelming, and does the student body use technology to cultivate a sense of belonging, even when students live off campus.
“With the lived experiences and voices of our delegates, staff and students, we know that we will build our own community of student leaders across the borders of campus walls, provinces and even country borders,” Davids said.
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We will build our own community of student leaders across borders Delecia Davids RESLIFE FESTIVAL CO-ORDINATOR