At the University of Klagenfurt, students and staff take centre stage. Promoting their emotional-psychological, physical and social well-being has top priority in all aspects of university life. Occupational health management is therefore regarded as a leadership responsibility that encompasses all members of the university.
Preamble of the company agreement on health management
(available in German only)
Health management is far more than the sum of individual actions. It is about the deliberate and systematic organisation, governance and design of all university business processes with the aim of maintaining and promoting biopsychosocial health, the competence to cope with work and the ability to learn on the part of students and employees. The aim is to create a healthy working, teaching, studying and learning university environment by continuously improving working and learning conditions, reducing stresses and strains associated with work and studying, as well as developing and strengthening health resources on an individual and organisational level.
Award for workplace health promotion
In 2017, the University of Klagenfurt was a recipient of the Award for Workplace Health Promotion.
By awarding prizes for workplace health promotion (German abbreviation: BGF), the Austrian Network for Workplace Health Promotion strives to increase the visibility of sustainable and innovative activities implemented by Austrian companies and institutions in the field of workplace health promotion, and to presents these to the general public.
At this, the seventh award ceremony, the BGF prizes were awarded to 24 companies and institutions from all over Austria, including the University of Klagenfurt, which received the 2017 BFG Prize of the Insurance Agency for Public Employees in the category of large organisations. The award winners represent the best of the best, as only organisations that have successfully completed the “BGF seal of quality” process are eligible for nomination for the BGF Award.
Health in the university setting
Within the interplay of physical, psychological and social resources, health represents being able to adequately manage the diverse demands associated with the university as a place of work and learning. The advancement of skills is contingent upon having the necessary room to manoeuvre as well as the requisite cooperation conditions embedded in an atmosphere of appreciation and respect. Achieving this requires an ongoing reflexive process of developing organisational and human resources.
The structures of the university can be deemed all the more health-promoting, the more they empower students and employees to recognise the objectives of their work/learning process and to achieve these through the best possible use of their respective abilities, allowing for the greatest possible room for manoeuvre. For this, it is essential to encourage a largely shared value and goal orientation, participation in decisions and transparency of all processes, so that the meaning of the tasks can be discerned and people feel motivated in their work.
Numerous awards offer ample evidence of the fact that health management has been successfully anchored and implemented at the University of Klagenfurt.
Health Management at the University of Klagenfurt
Maintaining and improving the health of students and employees is a central concern of the health management team at the University of Klagenfurt. We therefore offer university members numerous health, counselling and prevention services as well as events on various health-related topics.
The University of Klagenfurt was one of the first universities in the German-speaking sphere to sign the Okanagan Charter in July 2018. This international charter, developed in Canada, aims to promote action, research and dialogue in the field of health promotion at universities and colleges.
By signing this charter, the University of Klagenfurt has committed itself to the following calls to action:
- Embed health into all aspects of campus culture, across the administration, operations and academic mandates
- Lead health promotion action and collaboration locally and globally
Okanagan Charter: An International Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges (PDF)
Head of the Executive Support Office
- +43 463 2700 3419
- Waltraud [dot] Sawczak [at] aau [dot] at
Offers & services
The following offers & services are described in German:
- Offers / measures / activities
- Occupational health on campus in Klagenfurt
- Health Days (annual event)
- Counselling services
- and much more besides …
For further information on health management, members of the university are invited to refer to the AAU portal.
The Network of Health Promoting Universities in Austria
Austria’s universities are the living, learning and working environment for more than 65,000 employees and around 330,000 students. As the most important educational policy institutions, universities provide training for future managers, decision-makers and multipliers.
In the evolving knowledge society, higher education institutions have a unique opportunity and responsibility to generate, share and implement knowledge and research results.
In this special position, they bear the duty to set a good example in the sustainable improvement of the health of society as a whole.
Founded in 2009, the Network of Health Promoting Universities in Austria was initiated and is managed by the health management team at the University of Klagenfurt.
Interested universities have joined forces in this network to support each other and make advances in the development and implementation of sustainably effective health management through collaboration, mutual support and the exchange of experiences.
Strategic objectives
- The network promotes the strategic anchoring of health management at universities.
- The network continuously develops university-specific quality standards for health promotion and supports its members in achieving them.
- The network is actively committed to representing the topic of the health promoting university among all relevant interest groups and stakeholders.
Team
Chair
Executive Board
- Dr.in Dipl.-Ing.in Kirsten Sleytr
- Susanne Mulzheim MSc, FH Campus Wien
Administrative Assistance
