The University of Rio Verde from Goiás, Brazil, has become the 50th university to join the FISU Healthy Campus programme. The project, launched in May 2020, aims to enhance all aspects of health and well-being for students on university campuses worldwide, through the structured promotion of physical activity and healthy practices.
The far-reaching programme is already having a positive impact on the lives and lifestyles of university students and campus communities in some of the world’s leading tertiary institutions, bringing them together on one unique platform for the first time.
The bespoke FISU Healthy Campus digital platform enables universities to track and improve student and staff health and wellbeing on their campus, and also share best practices and insights with other universities at the same time.
Professor Alberto Barella, Rector of the University of Rio Verde, Brazil.“For University of Rio Verde, participating in the FISU Healthy Campus Programme represents the achievement of a very important stage of our commitment; of constant institutional development, always providing the best to our academic community,” says Rector, Professor Alberto Barella.
“We are convinced that FISU, through this fantastic world-class program, will provide us with access to exchange experiences and international integration, guiding us and providing models of excellence in university sports and in wellbeing.”
University of Rio Verde is in fact one of three Brazilian universities to join the programme in recent times, the other two being Universidade Paulista in São Paulo (UNIP) and Centro Universitário Mario Pontes Jucá (UMJ) in Maceió.
“We spent the last few months of 2020 working on the dissemination and information about the FISU Healthy Campus programme among Brazilian universities and are pleased to start 2021 by welcoming three universities into the programme,” says Luciano Cabral, the President of the Brazilian University Sports Confederation (CBDU) and FISU Vice President.
“We believe that Healthy Campus is one of the main platforms for the further development of university sports in the world through FISU,” added Cabral. “These Brazilian universities have demonstrated their commitment to promoting health and sustainability in their respective campuses.”
Professor Alberto Barella agrees that his university places a high value on well-being in the campus community, through physical activity and sport, and that CBDU was instrumental in bringing them on board.
University of Rio Verde (BRA) joins FISU Healthy Campus“An institutional relationship between the University of Rio Verde and CBDU was what enabled us to learn more about the FISU Healthy Campus Programme and, consequently, gave us direct access to the FISU Healthy Campus team that guided us very well,” says Professor Alberto Barella.
Fernando Parente, FISU’s Director of University Relations and Healthy Campus says the team has been working through the challenging past year to impress upon universities the ever-growing need to ensure the health and well-being of their campus communities.
“Having 50 universities registered in the Healthy Campus Programme is excellent,” says Parente. “We have held more than 200 meetings with our member federations and universities around the world and expect that more institutions will come on board soon, after the feedback from leading universities that are already in the programme.”
“In August this year, we will be awarding the first certificates to many universities,” continues Parente. “The certificates will be awarded in Chengdu, during the summer edition of the FISU World University Games. Now,we are working towards evaluating the work of those that have already joined.”
The Healthy Campus standard document was compiled with the collaboration of thirty world experts in student health. It is now an unprecedented global network for universities to share knowledge, expertise, and best practices in fitness, mental health, nutrition, disease prevention, environment, sustainability and social responsibility.
