Student wellness in South African higher education is being reshaped by forces that extend far beyond university campuses. Financial strain, questions of identity and belonging, and an increasingly uncertain future have complicated what it means for students to not only succeed, but to endure. In this context, wellness can no longer be treated as a support function on the margins. It has become central to how institutions understand the student experience itself.

The University of the Free State’s (UFS’s) Division of Student Affairs, Sport, Arts and Culture (DSA-SAC) opened its 2026 Executive Director of Student Affairs (EDSA) Critical Dialogue series on its Qwaqwa Campus with this urgency in mind. The engagement forms part of a broader build-up towards the annual Global Student Well-being Summit scheduled for late July 2026. Bringing students into direct conversation with academic and student leadership voices, the EDSA dialogue created a space to interrogate how universities might respond more meaningfully to the realities students face.

Rethinking wellness as lived experience

DSA-SAC Executive Director Dr Temba Hlasho set the tone by framing the dialogue as a response to a world that has shifted in ways institutions have yet to fully confront. “The world our students are entering is profoundly different from the one we knew. Climate anxiety, digital overload, financial pressure, identity and belonging, and the aftershocks of the pandemic have rewritten the meaning of student wellness,” he said.

Dr Hlasho located wellness at the core of the university’s broader purpose, linking it to the kind of graduates institutions seek to develop. “Be bold and reimagine, not simply reform. Be evidence-led, and act as a collective.”

The dialogue was anchored by two panellists, Prof Mogomme Masoga, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and Dr Gcina Mtengwane, Lecturer in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies. Their reflections deepened the conversation by situating wellness within both identity and structure.

Prof Masoga drew attention to the varied realities students carry with them into the university space, challenging any singular understanding of the student experience.

“Students arrive with different lived experiences, shaped by the worlds they come from. Wellness is embedded in their identity and presence within the institution.”

His remarks extended to the character of the institution itself, urging a shift in how universities locate themselves within their context. “We must move toward being African universities in essence, not simply universities located in Africa,” he said.

Dr Mtengwane situated student wellness within the broader social and economic conditions shaping young people’s lives. He emphasised the responsibility of institutions to respond in ways that are both human and enabling. “Universities have a responsibility to create environments that feel like home, where students experience a real sense of belonging. Those spaces must also open up opportunities for students to confront and overcome the challenges they come from.”

SRC President Mcebo Hlatsi brought the voice of students into the dialogue, reinforcing the call for a more grounded approach. He stressed the importance of recognising the realities students inhabit, both before and during their time at university. “Universities must acknowledge the lived realities of students, including where they come from and what they lack. Without this recognition, interventions risk missing the mark,” he said.

Hlatsi argued that meaningful change depends on direct engagement with students.

“Reimagination requires institutions to go to the ground, to ask students what they need, and to build solutions with them.”