Stressed out by mountains of marking? Worried about research deadlines? Why not unwind with a little aromatherapy. Or perhaps some reflexology - or even a Chinese massage. The range of services now on offer by universities anxious to reduce the pace of life for harassed staff and students is expanding rapidly.
York University, for instance, has opened its first "quiet place" - a Georgian gazebo that has been carefully restored into a "space designed for inner growth". The project caught the imagination not only of York chancellor Dame Janet Baker, but also the York Quakers and a host of other charitable organisations, which together managed to raise more than Pounds 70, 000 for the building work.
The gazebo, in the grounds of Heslington Hall, is designed to symbolise the value placed by the university on the spiritual dimension of human existence. A garden has been designed around it and inside there are two rooms whose emphasis is on natural light and materials.
Bill Shiels, an economic historian and part of the gazebo's management group, said the gazebo would offer people of any or no faith a still space dedicated to the search for inner balance.
He said: "This is a place to get away, to escape. It is secular, reflecting our founding tradition, and as such is inclusive. It is a way of making a statement about the importance of contemplation."
The campus at York was once, he adds, a quiet place itself. But no more: "We realised some time ago that there was a gap in our provision for the development of people within the university, the opportunity to nourish and renew our individual capacity for positive activity in our everyday lives. The quiet place will assist the university community to cope with the stresses of modern life."
The gazebo will be quite tightly controlled. No religious symbols of any sort will be allowed in the building, which is only to be used for reflection, meditation, prayer, reading, quiet conversation and contemplative walking. Any activities likely to disturb the peace of others or to violate the symbolic quality of the environment as a place of stillness and quiet are expressly forbidden: activities such as playing music, chanting and choral speaking.
Not every university campus, however, has access to a gazebo. Leeds Metropolitan University, for instance, is a sprawling inner city site that has a different approach to stress management and personal development. Aromatherapy sessions are run twice a month on Fridays costing Pounds 9 for half an hour, and the health centre runs free relaxation courses and an informal counselling and advice service. There are also regular meditation sessions. In nearby Bradford University, the leisure centre is branching out into reflexology, according to manager Steve Teasdale.
He said: "If people are stressed out and want to relax they can book in for sessions with our peripatetic reflexologist. Alternatively, they may fancy the increasingly popular hypnotherapy courses. We will consider anything as long as it is not illegal."