Mental health of students in higher education

College Report CR166and provision of assessments for young people in education in transitionfrom school to post-16 learning. The duty of care issue in general became acause for concern in higher education and the boundaries of what countedas ‘reasonable’ became increasingly questioned.In the previous report on the mental health of students, the RoyalCollege of Psychiatrists (2003) recommended that higher educationinstitutions should respond to the increase in demand of mental healthservices through mental health promotion, the development of mentalhealth policies and a focus on risk assessment. The report highlightedthe increasing numbers of students in general, the increasing numbers ofmature students and the narrowing of access to mental health services forthe student population. It recommended local networks to develop sharedpolicies between colleges, primary care services, mental health services andother relevant agencies.The MWBHE working group set out to benchmark current provision andto evaluate the impact and effectiveness of recent guidance and legislation.The group organised conferences and carried out sector-wide postal surveysof its members in 2003 and 2008. Its main aims are to promote collaborationbetween professional groups responsible for mental well-being in highereducation, to be a reference point for government bodies, the NHS andeducational institutions, and to influence policy on issues related to mentalwell-being in higher education. Membership includes wide representationfrom higher education and the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and links havebeen made with, among others, the National Disability Team, the SocialExclusion Unit and Young Minds. The group produced a Framework for theDevelopment of Policies and Procedures (Universities UK/GuildHE WorkingGroup for the Promotion of Mental Well-Being in Higher Education, 2006) tosupport higher education institutions in the development of mental healthpolicies and procedures, broadly in light of widening participation andchanges in disability legislation.The problem of student suicide was taken up by Universities UK andSCOP (2002), in a report entitled Reducing the Risk of Student Suicide. Thiswas in response to the increasing demand on student services by studentswith mental health problems, and recognition of a duty of care of highereducation. In Transitions: Young Adults with Troubled Lives, published bythe Social Exclusion Unit in November 2005, it was noted that 20% of 16- to24-year-olds had a mental health problem, mostly anxiety and depression.Suicide was noted to be a cause of a quarter of all deaths in this age group.Suicide attempts had increased by 170% between 1985 and 2005.Mentoring for mental health problems that have an impact on theacademic performance of students is one strategy that has been widely takenon by disability services in higher education. The costs of this may be metby the Disabled Students’ Allowance and are refunded to higher educationby local education authorities. International students are disadvantaged inthis respect in that they are not eligible for this funding.ConclusionsThe outcome of this legislation and the various report recommendations overthe years is that in many higher education institutions mental health policieshave been established. There have been varied responses to the increase indemand on services. It is difficult to summarise the scale and the scope ofthe impact that the legislation, with its demands and ramifications, has had40 http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk