Universities report surge in student mental-health problems

Levels of mental illness, mental distress and low wellbeing among students in higher education in the UK are increasing, according to a recent report.

The number of students disclosing a mental-health condition to their institution in the last 10 years has risen five-fold and the number of students suicides has risen by 79 per cent, according to a new report published by the think tank Institute for Public Policy Research on 4 September.

In 2015-16, 15,395 first-year students at higher-education institutions in the UK disclosed a mental-health condition, 2 per cent of all students. That is almost five times the number in 2006-7, which was 0.4 per cent of the overall population, the report found.