Samira Shackle - ‘The way universities are run is making us ill’. British student's mental health crisis
British universities
are experiencing a surge in student anxiety, mental breakdowns and depression.
There has been a sharp rise in students dropping out – of the 2015 intake, 26,000 left in their first year, an increase for the third year
running – and an alarming number of suicides. In the 12 months ending July 2017,
the rate of suicide for university students in England and Wales was 4.7 deaths
per 100,000 students, which equates to 95 suicides or about one death every
four days.
The crisis in student
mental health hit the news in 2017 after a high number of suicides
at Bristol University. Over 18 months, starting in October 2016, 12
students are believed to have killed themselves. While the university tried to
tackle the crisis, it struggled to keep up with the rising demand for help. In
November 2018, a group of students gathered on a chilly Bristol street holding
placards demanding better access to psychological support. The students told
reporters that despite promises of more investment in student wellbeing,
services were still badly overstretched....
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/sep/27/anxiety-mental-breakdowns-depression-uk-students
