Organizational Resilience and Supportive Security Tools to Support Higher Education Studies

Abstract

Elements that support studying are an essential part of increasing students' competence and the success of their studies. In recent years, various uncertainties, from coronavirus to personal harassment or bullying, have affected study environments and, thus, studying and student well-being in higher education environments as well. To guarantee student peace, study progress, and student well-being, organizational resilience, and security are needed, among other things. To ensure the resilience of higher education institutions, we need, for example, the adaptability of personnel and psychological safety in the study environment. The safety of the study environment in higher education institutions is guided, for example, by the Whistleblower Directive, which entered into force in the EU in 2022. The Directive, which primarily applies to suspected crimes against an organization or its employees, has been implemented in Finland as the Act on the Protection of Whistleblowers. For this reason, higher education institutions in Finland have organized reporting practices related to safety, harassment, and inappropriate treatment. Students and staff members of higher education institutions can report observations, deviations, and suspicions affecting safety, for example, to guarantee peace of study for everyone in the higher education environment. The article presents examples of practices implemented in two universities of applied sciences and implementations and results taken based on experiences.