The Health Promoting University Program is a comprehensive project dedicated to improving the health, living conditions, and quality of life of the university community (students, faculty, and staff) and people around the institution. By means of this program, the university can increase its competitiveness, quality of services, and reputation, improve its ability to attract and keep students, and can thus reduce the drop-out rate. At the same time, with such a program the higher education institutions also fulfill their duties stipulated by the Hungarian Act on Higher Education and their obligations can be realized through their integration into our core activities.
In the field of education and training, the task of health promoting institutions is to provide those skills and competences for students (knowledge, abilities, attitudes) which they could use to improve and control their own health and quality of life and to prepare them to consider and use solutions in their future work which have a positive effect on the health of people and society as a whole. Moreover, it is a central task to organize educational programs that take into consideration the needs of students and faculty for a healthy lifestyle and to use and advocate methods aimed at reducing stress.
In the research-development-innovation (RDI) strategy and its implemented programs, the university considers the effects of projects on health and selects research, development, and innovation projects with a positive effect. Moreover, a university dedicated to health promotion plans and implements its development projects in a way that is justified professionally and also takes into consideration the needs of the university community. This also means planned and well-founded research projects.
With regard to social services, also known as the third mission of universities, being dedicated to health promotion partly means that the institution participates in regional, rural, and urban development as a knowledge center, this way offering learning and development experience for students. At the same time, it offers programs and collaborations for the purposes of improving the health and quality of life of people living around the university and that of the university community. With its knowledge base, the university facilitates the implementation of health preservation and health promotion programs in the region.