Health Promotion Services (HPS) must enable people to live, study, work, and play in health promoting environments, and when feasible, increase control over, and to improve, their health. Personal development, including learning, in relation to the practice of healthier behaviors, is one of the essential health promotion action areas as outlined in the Okanagan Charter. Personal development, including learning, is one aspect of a comprehensive approach to embedding health into all aspects of campus culture. HPS is the campus unit most prepared to bring informed and effective leadership to this effort in partnership with diverse campus stakeholders who equally value and work to foster student success.
As part of the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) suite of Health Promotion Services resources, this document conveys the set of specific standards and guidelines that apply to this aspect of higher education. Common to all sets of standards developed by and provided for sale from CAS, they include the embedded CAS General Standards. All standards are broken down into 12 vital areas of operations to which those leading the functional area must attend.
These standards provide a metric for assessing the quality of health promotion services to aid in the development of students and the quality of the academic and living environment. They assist in advocacy efforts to obtain additional resources and assistance with staff training and professional preparation around health promotion services. They can aid in informing campus colleagues, administrators, and constituents about the benefits of supporting health promotion services on campus.
Access is free with NIRSA membership; if you are not currently a NIRSA member, you can visit the CAS Website for more information about obtaining these standards. Interested in learning more about the benefits of a NIRSA membership? Visit our Join page!
