The Health Promoting University (HPU): the role and function of nursing

For many nurses, fulfilling a nursing role and career will inevitably mean that they come into contact with the University setting--at both a pre- and post-qualifying level. Many nurses throughout the world have their educational needs determined by and delivered by University-based institutions. Since the mid-1980s, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has sought to define and encourage the implementation of concerted health promotion programmes that adopt a 'setting-based' approach. Recently, the literature has begun to identify the emerging role and function of the Health Promoting University (HPU) as another component of the settings-based movement. As much as nurses are duty-bound to consolidate and incorporate health education and health promotion practices in the clinical setting, this paper argues that they have a similar responsibility in the Higher Education setting.