Mental health of students in higher education

College Report CR166Promotion of Mental Well-Being in Higher Education, 2006). It isstrongly recommended that all higher education institutions ensurethat training in the recognition of mental disorder and suicide riskis offered to academic and other institutional staff who work withstudents.8 It is recommended that higher education institutions consider theadverse impact of alcohol misuse in students. Steps should be taken tocurtail inducements to consume alcohol, for example ‘happy hours’ andsales of cheap alcoholic drinks on campus. Health promotion effortsshould recognise the importance of sexual victimisation and violenceperpetrated by intimate partners as a cause of mental distress. Theseefforts should focus on potential perpetrators as well as potentialvictims.9 The ‘Healthy Universities’ systemic and holistic approach is commendedand should be adopted as widely as possible. Mental health and wellbeingis an integral part of a healthy university and this approach hasthe potential to enhance the well-being of both students and staff.For all sectors10 Higher education institutions and NHS psychiatric services whoprovide care to students should establish some form of coordinatedworking relationship. The form that this should take will depend on theexisting organisation and configuration of NHS services and the levelof provision of counselling and other services by the higher educationinstitution. If a mental health advisor is in post, he/she would beideally placed to take a leading role in this. We have described arange of options in Appendix 2. These include direct involvementof psychiatrists in primary care or counselling services, where theyfunction both as clinicians and supervisors, the establishment ofreferral pathways to NHS care, and the development of NHS/highereducation institution networks for consultation, education and thecoordination of service provision.11 There would also be benefit from closer collaboration between highereducation institutions and the NHS with regard to the formulationof local and national policies in relation to the mental well-being ofstudents. All relevant parties are urged to explore further possibilitiesfor closer working relationships at a strategic level.12 All sectors are encouraged to recognise and pay attention to the needsof particularly vulnerable subgroups such as international students andstudents with a history of mental disorder.13 The student mental health working group was struck by the paucityof recent, high-quality research into the nature and prevalence ofmental disorder (including drug and alcohol use) in the UK studentpopulation. There is a need for systematic, longitudinal research intothe changing prevalence over time of mental disorders in students.We need to know more about academic and social outcomes instudents who go to university with pre-existing psychiatric illnesses.The changing demographic background of students highlights a needfor up-to-date research to identify risk factors within students such as14 http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk