More than 92,000 people have signed a petition calling for Higher Education bodies to be given a “legal duty of care” in supporting the mental health of university students.
The petition also requests that personal information be passed on to relatives or a GP if it is serious.
The campaign group behind the petition, The LEARN Network, hopes to achieve 100,000 signatures in order to spark a debate in Parliament.
Faces behind the campaign
Members of the group include parents of students who took their own life whilst studying at university.
One mum from Sheffield has been campaigning for change after her 21-year-old son took his own life in student halls back in 2021.
Oskar Carrick was studying at Sheffield Hallam when he was sent home from Wellbeing, after attempting suicide hours before.
Maxine Carrick, mother to Oskar, said: “If anything untoward happened, or if they had concerns, we thought he would be safe and someone would be looking out for him.”
Although Oskar had consented to the information being passed on, both his mum or GP did not find out about this, until his death three weeks later.
Sheffield Hallam has said in a statement it takes supporting students’ mental health extremely seriously.
They said: “In recent years we have significantly increased resources to provide access to a wide range of support services, whilst every student has access to dedicated advisers.”
What do universities already have in place?
The University of Sheffield told ShefNews: “Wellbeing support is something the university takes very seriously.
“All students have access to Student Welfare and Wellbeing which is here to help students get the most from their university experience.”
Additionally, the University of Sheffield, similar to Hallam, have a Residence Life scheme, where older students live on campus and are paid to check in on the well-being of first years.
The team are allocated residency blocks, and pass up any serious information to those fully qualified above them.
But one Residence Life worker, who did not want to be named, said the University of Sheffield “simply does not have enough support that is sometimes required, even if they do pass on the information”.
Her training was a three-week process which certified her as “‘”Mental Health aware”, but she told ShefNews she has 92 students to look after, and one manager who is fully qualified to contact.
She said: “I know about mental health, but I haven’t been taught how to deal with it.
“I would tell a trained manager if I was faced with serious information. I don’t have nearly enough training, but am expected to deal with some of these issues on campus.”
One first year student, who wishes to remain anonymous said, after confiding with the university’s services about his self-harm, he was told he had to “deal with it”.
The Government’s response to the campaign and petition:
In response to this petition against Higher Education, a statement from the Deputy of Education summarised their role as: “A provider which owes a duty of care to not cause harm to their students through the University’s own actions.
“We, therefore, feel further legislation to create a statutory duty of care, where such a duty already exists would be a disproportionate response.”
Although the current government does not believe a change in bill is necessary, an opportunity to re-engage Parliament with 100,000 signatures may create a different outcome.