The University of Bedfordshire achieved the University Mental Health Charter Award in July 2025.
The Award recognises the significant progress we have made to embed a university-wide approach to the positive mental health and wellbeing of all our students and staff, as well as our commitment to ongoing development.
The Award Panel commended the University for our continued commitment to student mental health and wellbeing and is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire community in prioritising mental health and wellbeing and fostering a supportive, inclusive learning and teaching environment for everyone.
The University of Bedfordshire is one of a number of universities across the UK to have joined the University Mental Health Charter Programme, designed to improve support for student and staff mental health.
The Charter Programme, spear-headed by Student Minds – the UK’s student mental health charity – brings together universities which are committed to making mental health and wellbeing a university-wide priority to share practice and create cultural change.
By joining the University Mental Health Charter Programme, universities have committed to working towards a set of evidence-informed principles of good practice. These include a commitment to work with staff and students to provide effective and adequately resourced support services, and the determination to create an environment and culture that reduces poor mental health and promotes good mental health for the whole university community.
Bedfordshire hopes its membership of this programme will help lead the way in demonstrating the University’s commitment to mental health
You can download the University's Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework [PDF] to read more.
You can also read the full story about why the University joined the Charter programme in 2021
The University Mental Health Charter (MHC) was created by Student Minds through consultation with thousands of university staff and students. The MHC Framework provides a set of evidence-informed principles to support universities to adopt a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing, create cultural change and demonstrate excellent practice.
The Charter Framework is divided into 18 themes, grouped under the Work; Learn; Live and Support domains:
The University of Bedfordshire achieved the University Mental Health Charter Award in July 2025 following an extensive review of our progress towards the principles, identifying both good practice and areas for improvement. We submitted our Self-Assessment report to Student Minds in February 2024. Following a review of the submission, an Assessment Team visited the University for a two day on-site visit in April 2024 where they had the opportunity to speak to staff and students to enable them to better understand the University’s approach, our strengths, examples of good practice and challenges we face.
The On-Site visit involved over 60 members of University staff from academic and professional services across the university as well as some of our home and international students. At the end of the visit, the Assessment Team fed back that the University clearly has very motivated staff who are passionate about supporting both students and staff wellbeing.
Students Minds then provided a tailored Assessor report to support the University’s ongoing improvement, which highlights both good and excellent practice, and recognises our commitment towards a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing. The report made recommendations for further development and identified the requirements to achieve the Charter Award, which were then implemented by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group have been leading on the development of an action plan to ensure the University is meeting the guidance outlined in the charter. This includes working with students and staff in developing our provision and evaluating the services to ensure they are effective. The working group will continue to address the recommendations made by the Assessment Team and will provide an annual progress report to Student Minds.
The University is engaging with a diverse range of staff and students across the University, including the Students’ Union, with a view to capturing where we are now, reflecting on how we deliver what we do and identifying where we can improve.
There are many ways that staff and students can get involved. Whether this is by student and staff surveys, student and staff groups, the staff and students' unions, training courses, workshops, and other activities.
You can also get in touch with Helen Randall (Project Manager) if you would like to contribute to improving the mental health and wellbeing of our community.