Nordic Council of Ministers Webinar: Student well-being in the Nordic countries

• Videos and programme from the webinar 3 December 2020

In order to mark the end of the Danish 2020 Chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science organises this webinar in collaboration with Nordic student organisations in higher education represented by Student Forum UC and the National Union of Students in Denmark (DSF).

The webinar is about well-being and its symbiotic relationship with learning. It will feature political thoughts on student well-being from the Nordic ministers of higher education, offer thought-provoking presentations from leading international academics on well-being, mental health and happiness and facilitate in-depth student lead discussion.

Student well-being and the symbiotic relationship with learning. Psychology and sociology set limits or expand boundaries for what students can achieve during higher education. A perspective to the current pandemic situation.

The webinar will feature:

• political thoughts on student well-being from the Nordic ministers of higher education
• offer thought-provoking presentations from leading international academics on well-being, mental health and happiness 
• facilitate inspirational Q&A sessions with Nordic students

Prof. Martin Seligman introduces the aspects and thinking of positive psychology, what it is, and how it is measured.

Prof. Sonja Lyubomirsky talks about personal actions to change and improve wellbeing and mental health.

Dr. Ruth Graham presents cases on how world leading educational institutions have responded to effects of the covid crisis on student life and wellbeing.

The webinar is moderated by Prof Vibeke Koushede and the student Q&A sessions are co-chaired by Mrs. Sofie Falck Villadsen and Mr. Sandi Rizvic.

• View the programme

Student lead discussions:

We collaborate with the Nordic students of higher education in organising this webinar. Two national Danish student organisations, SFUC – Studenterforum UC (professional bachelor level education) and DSF – Danske Studerendes Fællesråd (bachelor-master level education), will coordinate with their sister organisations in the other Nordic countries in order to assemble Nordic related discussion topics for each speaker based on questions from all Nordic students. The discussion following each presentation will take the form of a dialogue between the two students and the speaker. A week prior to the webinar we would like to share and plan questions with each speaker. Because we hope for a very high number of participants, we do not plan to open the floor to questions.

Speakers’ bio:

Prof. Martin Seligman

Prof. Martin Seligman is one of the leading educators and researchers in the whole field of psychology today.  He is globally a leading authority in the fields of resilience, learned helplessness, depression, optimism and pessimism. He is also a recognized expert on interventions that prevent depression, and build strengths and well-being. Since 2000 his main mission has been the promotion of the field of Positive Psychology. He has worked on joining psychological practice and science together – so both might flourish – which also is a goal that has dominated his own life as a psychologist. He is the author of more than 350 scholarly publications and 30 books, translated into more than 50 languages. Martin Seligman is the recipient of numerous awards, honours and prizes.

• Read more on his website

Prof. Sonja Lyubomirsky

Prof. Sonja Lyubomirsky is a social psychologist and a leader in the field of well-being science. Her research focuses on the benefits of happiness, why some people are happier than others, and how happiness can be lastingly increased. She tirelessly promotes personal strategies to increase happiness backed by scientific research and empirical data. She features regularly as a happiness expert in media across the world. Lyubomirsky currently teaches courses in social psychology and positive psychology. In her work, Lyubomirsky has focused on developing a science of human happiness and she investigates how people can become happier via gratitude, kindness, and connection interventions.  She has published widely in the area. Her best-selling book “The How of Happiness” is published in 28 countries. Sonja Lyubomirsky has won many awards, medals and prizes recognizing her outstanding research and her top-level teaching and mentoring of students.

• Read more on her website

Dr Ruth Graham

Dr Ruth Graham, higher education consultant, is a Mechanical Engineer by training specialised in aeronautical fatigue, working with BAE SYSTEMS for a number of years. In 2002 she moved to Imperial College London and later became Director of the EnVision project, which sought to transform the undergraduate education across all nine departments in the Faculty of Engineering and improve its culture of support and reward for teaching excellence. Ruth has worked as an independent consultant since 2008. Her work is focused on fostering change in higher education across the world; helping to improve teaching and learning worldwide and supporting the emergence of technology-driven entrepreneurship within universities.  Ruth’s recent projects have included:

• global benchmarking study on the future of engineering education, conducted on behalf of MIT;
• a multi-year initiative to improve the reward and recognition of teaching in higher education that is now supporting reform to the tenure and promotion systems of over 50 universities worldwide;
• a cross-institutional survey to capture and track the culture and status of teaching amongst faculty, in which 21 universities from 10 countries are participating.

• Read more on her website

Moderator:

Prof Vibeke Koushede is a professor in mental health promotion (and head of department of psychology) at the University of Copenhagen. Her work has had a substantial impact in terms of putting wellbeing and mental health promotion on the Danish agenda. Her work has been heavily focused on working across sectors and disciplines, and on bridging the gap between wellbeing research, policy and practice.

Student panel:

Mrs. Sofie Falck Villadsen is the chairwoman of Studentforum UC, which is the National Student Organization of Students for Danish University Colleges (Professional bachelor level). This includes educations such as teachers, nurses, midwives, and many more. She has spent the past 4-5 years being heavily involved in student politics and advocating for students rights and better practice periods, while also studying to become a teacher. She is particularly focused on improving student well-being, which she thinks is under attack. This is the result of an evolving performance culture and the pressure from the existing educational system in Denmark, which she is determined to improve.

Mr. Sandi Rizvic is the International officer and member of the executive committee of DSF (Danske Studerendes Fællesråd) representing students in mainly long cycle higher educations and artistic higher education such as music conservatories and art schools. As international officer Sandi represents Danish students both at European level in the European Students’ Union and at Nordic/Baltic level in the network of Nordic student organizations, NOM (Nordisk Ordförande Möte). He has been extensively involved in student representation in the past 5-6 years, both at a local, national and international level, where student involvement in decision making, rights and well-being has been some of his main agendas. He believes that the great increase in stress, depression and anxiety among students and young people cannot simply be caused by personal factors, and solutions must therefore be found at a more structural and legislative level, both nationally and internationally, to improve the well-being of students.