Supporting the mental health and emotional well-being of university and college students in higher education environments is important. A noticeable trend in institutional planning is the inclusion of student success frameworks, that require integrated use of student data and learning analytics collected by institutions, Institutions use this data to run performance checks about student, lecturer and course satisfaction, to gauge quality of teaching and learning and to steer institutional planning. These frameworks have also paved the way for planned student retention and throughput strategies that are implemented through mainstream university courses as well as dedicated student support services that are made available to students. 

This paper explores the discourses around student support, how student support is configured in higher education as well as student academic support. After this conceptual discussion, common threats to student mental health and well-being are highlighted to draw attention to reasons for institutional decision-making that include the provision of additional student support services. Threats such as anxiety and depression, that can be caused by cognitive dissonance, overload and other stressors, are considered in relation to possible negative student experiences. 

This is followed by a discussion around the importance of student academic support, an often overlooked and undifferentiated aspect of student support. Different types of student academic support services are described to clarify how such service programs function in preventive and pro-active ways to mitigate cognitive and emotional dissonance and support the mental health and well-being of university students, as they develop the academic literacies needed to succeed at university. The paper concludes with a discussion of knowledge and literacy practices, which students need to utilize as part of their academic literacies development, and how a socio-cognitive approach to teaching can support students to develop the scholarly identities, behaviors and mindful strategies required to succeed at university.

Fatima Slemming completed her qualifications as an Educator and Linguist from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. She is an active researcher and published author and offers language and research services through WordProof, a company founded in 2017. She works as an Applied Linguist in the field of higher education teaching and learning. She has, altogether, more than thirty years of professional experience in various roles, namely, Academic Literacies Development lecturer, educational developer, writing support consultant and facilitator, head of a writing center, language center director, student academic support coordinator, and as a high school teacher. She has served as an executive committee member of the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA). She is a member of the SA Association of Language Teachers (SAALT) and the SA Association of Academic Literacy Practitioners (SAAALP). She is also the current Chairperson of the Southern African Writing Centres Association (SAWCA).