Preventing loneliness with Umii

Thursday 25-11-2021 - 08:00
Umii article

 

 

Together with the university we are targeting student loneliness, by partnering with the student connection app Umii.

The app, which has already helped over half of its users feel less isolated*, is being launched as studies show that a quarter of students ‘often or always’ feel lonely, one in six university students say they have no ‘true friends’ and over half of UK students say they are dissatisfied with their social experiences.

It was developed to connect students, combat loneliness and increase retention and academic success, after its founder Georgia Wheadon herself suffered with loneliness at university.

All undergraduates at the University of Salford can use it to create their own bespoke, secure profile - adding their course, interests and societies to match and meet with others. Everyone’s profile is verified by the university to ensure connections are genuine.

SU President Festus Robert from Salford says: “We offer a range of social clubs, organisations and activities to encourage our undergrads to meet people and then make friends, but we want to take every possible step to ensure that our students have a happy experience in Salford and Manchester. By working with Umii, we are providing another layer: a simple, safe and accessible way for our new and existing cohorts to meet like-minded people and enjoy friendships that will further strengthen their time here.”

Georgia based the platform on her own university experience. Allocated a small flat as a fresher, with people whose interests completely differed from hers, she felt unable to connect. Her course was Joint Honours, meaning she was with different people every day at lectures - and after having an accident that made her temporarily housebound, she was completely unable to meet new people, and her self-confidence and mental health began to suffer.

Says Georgia: “My university experience is what made me so passionate about solving student loneliness. We all know that university is much more than the academic side - I don’t want anyone to have the same feelings that I did. I want Umii to act as a preventative measure to isolation and loneliness, by giving students a place for lasting peer to peer relationships to be built. I’m delighted that we are launching it at Salford.”

The app is available on Google Play and the App store.

*Results from a four-month pilot at UCLAN in 2020, which helped create 2,000 connections online and initiated nearly 6,000 conversations between students.

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