University of Western Australia Achieves Gold Level Certification

The University of Western Australia (UWA) was one of the first signatories to the Healthy Campus project and has now achieved Gold level certification, the second-highest possible under the programme. 

At the time that UWA signed up in late 2019, there were no other southern hemisphere signatory universities and UWA embraced the chance be part of FISU’s pilot programme of seven universities globally. This early adoption also allowed UWA to provide representatives to sit on FISU’s Expert Panel which set the criteria for assessing the universities. 

For UWA, the programme seemed a logical step, joining a global network offering opportunities for connections with other universities, learning and professional development and a way to shine a light on good work already being done in this space by the UWA. 

‘Healthy Campus is unlikely to fundamentally change Australian universities, most are already doing the work to create a safer, healthier place to work and study for students and staff,’ said Ian Fitzpatrick, UWA’s Director of Student Accommodation and Community, ‘what it will do is enhance, refine and inspire more of the good work already being done by the sector.’ 

‘Healthy Campus is a simple and cost-effective mechanism that allows the sport divisions of universities to demonstrate a valuable contribution to the university’s outcomes and reputation if they hit all the criteria – which most already are,’ said Mr Fitzpatrick. 

‘The more signatories we can get in Australia, the greater the value we’ll see for the individual universities and the sector as a whole,’ he said. ‘Once we build momentum in bouncing ideas off one another and allow each university to differentiate their well-being offerings for students and staff, signatories will see that FISU’s Healthy Campus is a great mechanism for stream-lining and being able to communicate the extent and value of what we are already doing.’ 

Download the UWA FISU Healthy Campus ebook (251KB)