Health starts in mind
We support your health
The health of all members of the university community is of great importance to us. The German Sport University Cologne is committed to creating study and work environments that promote health, as well as to sustainably strengthening and maintaining the health of its students and staff.
Our Principles
We define health management as the development of university-wide frameworks, structures, and processes aimed at fostering a healthy organizational environment, work culture, and academic experience, as well as empowering all members of the university community to adopt health-promoting behaviors.
The health policy of the German Sport University Cologne focuses on three interrelated areas of action that overlap. These are:
- Healthy university organization—through the promotion of social capital
- healthy work and study—through the health-promoting design of work and study conditions
- healthy individuals—through the promotion of human capital
Establishing a management system is of great importance for targeted action in these areas. This includes structural development, processes, communication and current status/data analysis.
Health Management Objectives
The long-term goals of the health management program at the German Sport University Cologne are:
- to maintain and promote the work capacity, student performance, motivation and satisfaction of all employees and students
- to embed health as a core value in the university culture and in everyone’s actions
- to promote social interaction for the benefit of the individual, the respective groups and the organization
- to continuously improve the framework conditions for health within the organization
- to strengthen the attractiveness of the German Sport University as an employer and place of study, both internally and externally
Our Approach to Health Management
To successfully implement health promotion at our university, we apply the following principles of the Luxembourg Declaration.
In addition, we are further developing our health management system based on the 10 quality criteria of the Working Group on Health-Promoting Universities.
Based on a holistic understanding of health, we aim both to empower individuals to take charge of their own health (behavioral prevention) and to create work environments that promote health (environmental prevention).
Health management focuses on health resources and seeks to promote health potential at the university and strengthen social, mental and physical health. In addition, the goal is to prevent and avoid health impairments in the workplace and academic environment, such as occupational diseases, mental stress and absences.
The German Sport University Cologne encourages active and as broad as possible participation by all members of the university community in planning, advisory and implementation activities.
Health management seeks to learn from employees—as experts in their own workplaces—what promotes and maintains health. It can only be successful if employees see themselves as experts in their workplaces and take responsibility.
By "integration," we mean incorporating health considerations into all major decisions and areas of the university.
We view the systematic approach to health management as a continuous, goal-oriented and verifiable process of learning and development. Topics, measures and timelines are not determined in the abstract, but are addressed and agreed upon as needed in consultation with the health stakeholders at the university.
To ensure successful implementation, we envision a systematic, sustainability-oriented approach that includes needs analysis, prioritization, planning, execution, continuous monitoring, evaluation of results, and the derivation of conclusions.
Our Areas of Focus
For our employees, we offer preventive health programs, a comprehensive selection of fitness classes and structural initiatives. In doing so, we focus on the following areas: mindfulness, conflict management, healthy leadership, self-management and stress management, mental health and workplace fitness. The goal is to initiate and support healthy and health-promoting work and living conditions, as well as to foster and strengthen the personal skills and potential of our employees.
Various lectures and event formats can be attended during work hours by arrangement. The wide range of company sports activities allows for participation before or after work hours as well as during breaks.
As an employee, you can access our upcoming offerings on the intranet via the following link.
External partners
To align the health management practices at the German Sport University Cologne with developments at other universities and the latest scientific findings, ongoing professional exchange is essential.
In addition to internal university partnerships, external partnerships are also being established for this purpose and the university participates in conferences, continuing education programs, and other events on the topic of health promotion, as well as engaging with relevant networks.
Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) is supporting the German Sport University Cologne in implementing a systematic and comprehensive health management program.
A cooperation agreement laid the foundation for a long-term partnership.
For over 15 years, TK has supported setting-oriented measures to promote a healthy learning and working environment at universities.
Through its involvement in the Working Group on Health-Promoting Universities (AGH), the German Sport University Cologne also has the opportunity to engage in ongoing professional exchange and networking with other universities on the topic of health in higher education.
To align the health management practices at the German Sport University Cologne with developments at other universities, ongoing professional exchange is essential. We network with other universities, learn from one another through best-practice examples and collaborate on establishing binding standards for health-promoting universities.
Among other initiatives, we participate in the “Network of Healthy Universities in North Rhine-Westphalia” (NGH). The motto “Thinking Ahead on Health Together” brought together health managers from universities across North Rhine-Westphalia to exchange experiences and thereby establish and promote high-quality health management.
You can find more information about the NGH here.
