Compassionate Campus

By Tabatha Sherborne

How can we make our campuses kinder and more supportive?

By compassion we mean understanding and helping others,
especially those in need.

Making universities more supportive, caring and inclusive is one way to nurture students and help them to thrive.

We aimed to find out whether students experience universities as caring and supportive.

We wanted to find ways to help students feel connected and like

they 'belong'.

We have used this data to learn from good practice and identify where change is needed.

The Compassionate Campus project took place in Exeter and King's College London.

We collected student stories and experiences, and fed them back into the university systems with the aim of enacting real change. We have conducted focus groups, sociality workshops, and anthropological studies.

Below are short films created with students and leadership, by our visual researcher Dr Polly Card. After watching, please read and download our Compassionate Campus Guidance document, developed from our research findings.

Compassionate Leadership

By Polly Card

Living with Chronic Illness as a Student

Student Story: Lauren Asare

By Polly Card

Commuting and Connections

Student Story: Eleanor Zalick

By Polly Card

Exeter Community Garden and Compassion

By Polly Card

Wellbeing and Medical Students

Student Story: Libby Terrieux-Taylor

By Polly Card

Building a Compassionate Campus:

The Nurture-U Guidance document

We have brought together our findings to create the Nurture-U Guidance for universities on how to make campuses more compassionate: "Building a More Compassionate Campus". This guidance invites university policy makers, leadership and staff to ask questions of their departments and institutions in relation to compassionate practices on campus. It has been designed to be used as a standalone guide or alongside the University Mental Health Charter.

Please click here or on the image to download. All feedback and thoughts very much appreciated, please email nurture-u@exeter.ac.uk.