Quick look: student mental health crisis

Over the last few years, there has been a growing concern around the mental health of university students. There are hundreds of reports, articles and news stories on the subject, so I’ve collated and condensed these conversations into a hopefully helpful summary on the topic.

How do we know there’s a problem?

This is a very complex topic, so there are multiple factors to consider.

Findings from a 2018 online student survey across over 140 universities found that almost 10% of students think about self-harm often, 40% are worried often and 33% reported suffering from loneliness often. This was from a survey of over 37,000 self-selecting students.

Other surveys from a variety of sources over the last few years have contributed to the discussion on the topic. A 2016 Unite survey found that 12% of students have a specific mental health condition; this was as high as 27% in a 2016 YouGov survey and a 2015 NUS survey found that 78% experienced mental health issues in the last year. It should be noted that self-selecting surveys will have a tendency to over-represent those who have an interest in the topic, skewing the results. 

The number of students reporting mental health conditions to their university has increased dramatically. In 2009/10 it was 0.5% of both male and female students, but in 2015/16 this was 2.5% for first-year female students and 1.4% for first-year male students. Note that these figures are still a lot lower than the proportion of students who reveal having a mental health condition when asked in surveys.

This reporting has also resulted in a growing demand for university mental health and counselling support, which many universities are unable to satisfy. FOI analysis by the BBC found that the numbers of students requesting university mental health support had increased by almost 50% in five years. A survey of academic staff also found that they felt unsupported in dealing with the increasing prevalence of students’ mental health problems. 

In recent years, there has been an increase in student suicides, however students still have a significantly lower suicide rate when compared to the general population of similar ages. The ONS carried out a comprehensive analysis into this topic in 2018 - including breakdown by gender and ethnicity.

The increased reporting from students is having an impact on outcomes. Data from HESA in 2014/15 showed that the number of students with mental health problems who dropped out had trebled in the previous five years. I wasn’t able to find any updated data on this topic for the most recent academic years.

It’s also worth noting that this isn’t just relevant to undergraduate students. There is a growing body of research around the challenges faced by PhD students and also increased demand for occupational health referrals amongst university staff. 

What is being done about it?

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the interventions that I found on this topic:

1. A mental health charter is being created by charity Student Minds, with the expectation that universities can then sign up to this charter by delivering an agreed set of standards in supporting student mental health
2. Last year, £1.1m in research funding was awarded to create a UK student mental health network, the results of which will feed into the above charter
3. A further £6m in funding is being offered by the Office for Students to encourage universities to pilot new ways to tackle the rise in student mental health issues. There is a specific point in this funding to improve collaboration between universities, the NHS, charities and schools and colleges (an area that has been critiqued for not being joined up)
4. Universities UK has developed a programme (#stepchange) to help universities make student mental health a strategic priority
5. Universities UK has also issued new guidance encouraging all ‘student-facing’ staff to receive suicide prevention training
6. Universities are starting to utilise learning analytics to identify students who are disengaging from university life and then intervene early with personalised support
7. The sector is currently considering whether parents should be contacted when students are at risk. In the most recent student experience survey from HEPI a majority of students supported this, but only in “extreme circumstances”
8. Greater Manchester universities have joined together with the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership to create a new dedicated centre to support students
9. Some universities have started to introduce new wellbeing functions that can support students' mental health more proactively
10. A number of new apps and platforms are being created that can help students (and young people more widely) track and learn more about their own mental health. However, an academic review of existing apps has found that very few cite evidence for how their methodologies work.

What else needs to be done?

Please add anything else in the comments. Especially if you’re currently working or studying in higher education and have found something that is working for you or your students.

That was just a quick look. Here are some reports for further understanding of the topic that I found really helpful in putting this piece together:

1.      Not by degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK’s universities – Report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (2017)

2.      The invisible problem? Improving students’ mental health – Report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (2016)