Universities as ecosystems: Flourishing and thriving not just coping and surviving

The theme of wellbeing has gained significant attention in educational policy in recent years, with a marked increase in investment in mental health awareness and quality care (WHO, 2023). To meet the needs of students, universities worldwide have developed a range of support services that focus on remedying deficits (Rashid, 2017). These can include counselling services, disability services, student advisors, and academic leaders. However, this surge in support aimed at helping students cope and survive has led to a decline in attention to academic opportunities for students to flourish and thrive, resulting in academics being underutilised to make a meaningful impact in this area (Shavard, 2023). Consequently, there has been a proliferation of tokenistic and bolt-on initiatives that prioritise meeting remedial targets through signposting. Drawing on Aristotle's work and theories of thriving, I will present data from recent research that supports embedding health and wellbeing practices within the curriculum to underpin collective, everyday ways of working. These findings are both relevant and timely and may be critical to the development of informed and effective pedagogy that supports student learning, engagement, and wellbeing. The results provide insight into features of curriculum design that have not been foregrounded in previous studies and contribute to a developing understanding of ways to support students in their studies, provide opportunities to thrive and as a result achieve academic success.