The University of Split joined Healthy Campus, International University Sports Federation (FISU)’s program that aims to improve the well-being of students and the university community in various aspects.
Healthy Campus (HC) is a global program that, in addition to promoting physical activity, includes nutrition control, disease prevention, mental and social health care, avoiding risk, protecting the environment, as well as sustainability and social responsibility.
So far, 86 universities from all over the world joined this project, and 33 universities met more than 40% criteria and earned some of Healthy Campus certificates.
Toni Gamulin, Head of University of Split’s Department of Student Standards and Sports, told us more about the program;
For the University, what are the main outcomes of investing its time and effort in the HC program and what will the University achieve once it reaches the certification level?
University of Split’s goal is, participating in this project, based on existing activities, in this case of university sports’ system - Unisport Split, to encourage development of other student standard segments in the area our University covers.
HC main domains include physical activity and sports, nutrition, mental and social health, environments and social responsibility, all of which will improve by us merely participating in the program, which will further improve the overall student standard in Split, which is one of this project’s main outcomes.
What do you think about the work process within the HC program?
We want to improve some innovations and processes we have not worked on so far, which will certainly raise the quality of campus living in categories such as environmental protection and awareness as well sorting waste. I hope that our ideas will be realized and that the University of Split will find its place in the HC program. Functional integration of various services, university components and students themselves will be necessary for the quality realization of certain criteria.
University of Split is already known for a series of sports and health-oriented recreational programs that are very popular among students and we already are recognizable in the international academic community for these free student programs. These existing programs will serve as a ground for promoting HC goals and realizing its criteria together with students. On the other hand, we consider the HC to be a media platform for promoting and popularizing the above on both domestic and international markets of sports programs intended for high school and university students. Therefore, one of our main goals is further animating students for active participation in implementing HC programs in different fields.
Do you agree that the HC program is a good tool for creating universities’ global strategy and developing collaboration between different departments?
It is important to stress that there are world-renowned universities, such as those in Beijing, Porto and Coimbra that own the Platinum certificate and can be a guideline to how we address different segments.
This program can form the basis for even more quality cooperation between different European universities that would benefit exchanging expertise, best practices, knowledge and experiences. HC has a great potential for inter-university cooperation in various fields and we hope that our university will become a leader on the international level.
Written by: Mila Puljiz
Photos: Paun Paunović CROPIX