A project at the University of Vienna is creating an environment that benefits the health of its students, allowing them to choose a healthier lifestyle in a setting that is steeped in tradition.

Text: Dietmar Schobel

The University of Vienna was founded in 1365, which means it is the oldest in the German-speaking world. Spread across 60 sites in the Austrian capital city, around 87,000 students from home and abroad are enrolled here. Around 11,000 people – including approx. 7,700 academics – are on hand to teach, accompany and supervise them.

At this traditional research institution, which is Austria’s largest educational establishment, the project “Focus on Student Health” (“Studentische Gesundheit im Fokus”) has integrated comprehensive health promotion as described in the Ottawa Charter of the World Health Organization (WHO) since November 2024. “We want to reach as many students as possible in their everyday lives at the university, using sustainable health promotion measures,” explains Petra Rust, nutritional scientist and deputy project director at the University of Vienna.

Meeting a need

Besides explaining how to follow a balanced diet, the project focuses on encouraging students to take sufficient exercise and look after their mental health. There is certainly a need for this. According to a survey of around 1,000 students conducted as part of the project,

*       around half would like to eat more healthily,

*       about 50% also said that their mental health is suffering,

*       and almost two thirds stated that they don’t exercise enough, according to their own estimations.

Numerous measures are now expected to improve the situation. For example, the project team has optimised the range of meals on offer at the two vegetarian-vegan canteens at the university. “Accessing affordable plant foods that are healthy and also climate-friendly was one of the students’ most important requests,” says Petra Rust. Besides this, students can attend several modules that teach them how to critically evaluate nutritional information, recognise scientifically substantiated content, and reflect on their own eating habits. This aspires to help them make healthy decisions especially when under pressure to study.

One aim is to enable students to incorporate physical activity into their everyday lives with minimum effort, including the option to combine healthy snacks with the opportunity for a short burst of exercise. And the awe-inspiring Arkadenhof in the University of Vienna’s main building, where busts of prestigious graduates spanning many centuries are on display, now invites students to take a break and keep fit in a historic setting.

Improving concentration

Display boards illustrating simple exercises have been set up – and on certain dates, a sport scientist is available to explain how to do them properly. Short videos have been created for use by all professors and lecturers during their teaching. “Effective stretching or just a few breathing/finger exercises now and then allows you to loosen up and has been proven to improve concentration,” says Petra Rust.

Other measures include the webpage “Health during your studies”, which is a hub of information and support for improving mental health. MINDU is a free, scientifically substantiated app provided for students, with exercises and information on how to gain a more mindful approach to stress and pressure. Videos and social media content are on offer in all three areas – nutrition, exercise and mental health. These include topics such as walking around to improve learning by 20% and clever ideas for breakfast during everyday studying (“Besser Lernen im Gehen – so merkst du dir 20 Prozent mehr” and “Smarte Frühstücksideen für den Studienalltag”).

Students are closely involved

Throughout the process, the students have been closely involved in planning and implementing the project. Indeed, the Ottawa Charter sets out that participation by those affected is an essential requirement of health promotion measures. Another project objective at the University of Vienna is to distribute the contents of this fundamental document more widely via the students.

One of the channels set up for this purpose is an extended curriculum (“Erweiterungscurriculum”). Students from a wide range of departments can attend lectures and seminars on the “scientific principles of health-promoting and sustainable nutrition, physical activity and mental health”, integrating these into their timetable and hence boosting their health literacy. The project is funded by Fonds Gesundes Österreich and will continue until November 2027.