A leading Swiss university will introduce an extra week’s break for rest after 60% of its students complained of suffering from exhaustion in an internal survey.
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) found the results of its survey of students and staff to be “worrying”.
Some 52.7% of the 4,300 students and staff who responded to the survey said they felt exhausted. The complaint was worse among women (55.8%) than for men (49.6%) and a particular problem for students.
“It’s worrying and it should lead us to think seriously about our way of studying and working,” said Kathryn Hess Bellwald, head of the mental health and well-being task force.
“The pandemic undoubtedly played a role, but even before this I heard many people expressing concerns about the mental well-being of their colleagues.”
To help cope with the situation, the university says it will bring in an extra’s week’s break in the autumn semester next year.
EPFL has also appointed a ‘Respect Compliance Officer’ and regular ‘Health Days’ to monitor well-being on campuses.
Last year, the university set up a ‘Support and Trust Network’ system to cope with an increasing rise in harassment complaints.
In the latest survey, released on Friday, 23.5% of respondents said they had experienced possible harassment or bullying at EPFL – up from 13% in 2019.
The latest edition of the EPFL well-being survey was carried out in November last year and was completed by 23% of the university’s student and staff.
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