Posted By Eddie Newall I would be interested to know any views regarding the obligations of universities towards students, who are not employees in the usual sense, whose health may be affected by course-related stress. This relates to students on vocational programmes, such as nursing students, whose course is full time in that a full 5 days per week are often required in order to complete the requred number of hours in both the university and in practical placements. Does the university have the same legal obligations for its students' welfare that an employer has towards its employees?

Posted By Diane Warne Eddie, I work in the Safety Services Office of a university; here, student welfare is dealt with by a separate department. It is not treated as a "health and safety at work" matter. I would say that there seems to be good provision of study support, advice and welfare services, counselling etc., as well as a medical service. In fact, in my opinion there is better provision of such services for students than for staff. If you are a H&S professional in a University, the Universities Safety Association would be helpful to you - their forum, hasnet-link, would I'm sure produce plenty of replies as members are usually willing to share experiences.