ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Patrick Pietroni draws upon his extensive experience in medicine, higher education, and as Director of the Darwin International Institute for the Study of Compassion. A wide range of professional, interdisciplinary, historical, and classical literatures offer readers a rigorous and thought provoking account of the compelling need for care, concern, and compassion in higher education. John Bowlby's thinking and attachment theory are used to anchor the concept of alma mater studiorum—or ‘nurturing mother of studies’—to contemporary university experiences and contexts. Reflective practice and principles underpinning a mentorship programme for students and faculty give the chapter a strong grounding in practice. General systems theory, and the notion of complex interacting elements that encompass individual, interpersonal, community, institutional, societal, cultural, and global components are also core to the chapter. The role of stewardship in higher education, and the implications for university leaders, is advanced as a way of better understanding the relationship between education and health in relation to the development and ‘wellness’ of social and university communities. The chapter concludes with reflections on the multifaceted nature of compassion, and its essential role in ensuring that universities, and the students who graduate, from them are fit for purpose.
