How Unite! integrates wellbeing into Higher Education
On 27–28 April 2026, Grenoble INP - UGA hosted a seminar with 28 professionals from 5 EU institutions across the Unite! alliance.
The seminar was designed as a collaborative space where partners could share practices, build connections, and reflect on driving change with a sustainable societal purpose. Organised by the Wellbeing Expert Team of the Inclusion, Diversity & Wellbeing Community, the event focused on how personal wellbeing, inner development, and systems thinking can foster sustainable change.
Through a combination of inspirational sessions, open dialogue, and experiential workshops, participants worked with frameworks such as the Inner Development Goals (IDG) and the Compassionate Systems Framework. These tools enabled attendees to examine underlying structures, cultivate self-awareness, and develop a systemic understanding—key elements for enabling meaningful transformation.
A core strength of the seminar was the diversity of its participants. The cohort brought together a wide mix of professional perspectives, including heads of student life departments, career counsellors, teachers, researchers, decision-makers, and project managers. This professional heterogeneity created a rich environment for perspective-sharing, encouraging participants to step outside their comfort zones and fostering collective learning.
Key Takeaways: From Individual Skills to Institutional Frameworks
The seminar highlighted that sustainable change cannot simply be understood intellectually; it must be embodied. Creating responsive cultures requires integrating everyday systems awareness skills, such as self-awareness, emotional literacy, and a clear understanding of systems dynamics.
"The workshop reawakened my sensitivity to the values that underpin prosocial leadership. I feel more motivated to push organisational culture to be better, more effective, more empathetic, and more equitable."
To navigate today’s complex and unpredictable world, participants explored practical tools and approaches. Through grounding, journaling, and systems sensing, attendees worked on connecting with themselves and others, building the adaptability and resilience needed in higher education today.
This event served as a stepping stone toward the official presentation of the Unite! Wellbeing Framework, which will be unveiled at the Unite! Dialogue in Stockholm in October 2026. Developed from the collective analyses and work of the Wellbeing Expert Team, the framework aims to support collective wellbeing across the alliance by cultivating responsive institutional cultures.