The University That Went One Step Beyond...

It’s that time of year again where all students seem to be stressing about end of semester deadlines, trying to revise for exams and just generally trying to stay awake from those crazy hours in the library! The combination of coursework deadlines alongside revision for exams is enough to make anyone go a little crazy and so I was really interested when I read about what one university was doing to try and combat this. This is what they plan to do in order to help their students…

The students at the University of Dundee are set to be relieved of their stress as the university introduces bouncy castles, bubble wrap, and animals in order to reduce anxiety and panic during this stressful time! The bouncy castle will be blown up on campus, alongside an animal farm for a week which will include donkeys, sheep and more. Not only this, but it will include having puppies for a day so students can look after them. Oh and a bubble wrap party…where students can party whilst popping bubble wrap to their relieve stress!

So I wanted to know how this got funded and it turns out that is has been arranged as part of the student’s association Healthy Body Health Mind campaign that focuses on the well-being of the students at Dundee University. All this has been arranged in the hope that the less stressed students are, the better they will do on their academic studies.

So it got me thinking, what if all universities had a stronger focus on students’ well-being by arranging such activities like the University of Dundee have. Something that would provide a release of stress in the build up to what is a very difficult time for many students! Sometimes it feels like it’s just part of university that we feel really stressed, but surely we can do more to reduce this so that we actually end up doing better? We all need a bit of stress in order to help us through that piece of coursework or exam, but sometimes the pressure can get too much causing us to do worse than what we would do if we weren't stressed! Therefore, I definitely respect the efforts that Dundee University have put in to trying to help their students during this time.

Although many universities have advice centres in which students can talk about their anxieties and stresses, which of course is brilliant, many students wouldn't go, and therefore the activities at this university seem a more positive and fun outlet. Because they are group activities that do not focus on talking about what they could do to combat their stress, this seems a better way to target students who wouldn't necessarily want to sit down and talk about it! It’s fun, it’s silly and it seems to really suit the student lifestyle. It’s good that universities are recognising that stress shouldn't just be part of study and but can be relived in small and fun ways!