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InQuire The University of Kent’s student newspaper
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24 March 2016
Issue 11.13
Meetings Mondays at 6.15pm in GS6
City Sound Project programme
Managing your revision this Easter
Find yours inside
Features Page 8
Entertainment Page 12
Students seeking counselling on the up
There has been a 28 per cent rise in students seeking counselling
Fraser Whieldon Distribution Co-ordinator
Eight in ten students have experienced mental health problems
A spotlight on sexual abuse in the cinema
T
he almost 30 per cent rise in the number of students seeking counselling has been linked to the increasing financial burden placed on students by tuition fees, and an uncertain future for graduates, according to 43,000 Russell Group mental health campaigners. There has been a 28 per cent students have sought help rise nationally in the number in the past three years of students concerned enough about their mental health to seek out counselling. At individual institutions, the number is much higher. 72 per cent rise in Cardiff students At Cardiff University, there seeking counselling between 2011/12 has been a 72 per cent and 2014/15 rise between 2011/12 and 2014/15; and over 43,000 students studying at Russell Group universities, The University of Durham has had a 35 the top educational per cent increase in students seeking institutions in the counselling between over three years country, have sought out counselling in the same time period. The University of The University of Southampton Durham has recorded a rise of 35 percent rise has had a decline in the number of in the 2014/15 academic students looking for help year from the 2011/12 academic year.
That being said, there are some large differences between institutions, raising queries of whether environmental factors are playing a part in the figures. The University of Southampton even recorded a decrease in the number of students seeking counselling. Stephen Bluckley from the mental health charity MIND, however, says that both tuition fees and debts accumulated by student loans are the major contributors to the rise. Tuition fees rose from £3,000 per annum to £9,000 per annum in 2012 under the ConservativeLiberal Democrat Coalition. The raising of tuition fees has led, according to Shelley Asquith, the Vice-President (Welfare) for the National Union of Students (NUS), to the marketisation of education, which is having a ‘huge impact’ on students’ mental health. Asquith also highlighted the emphasis universities place on the competition amongst graduates for employment as another contributor to the rise in the number seeking counselling. An NUS survey conducted last winter showed almost eight out of 10 (78 per cent) of students surveyed had experienced mental
health problems. The main causes being financial worry and stress from studying. A report by the NHS mental health task force released last month criticised a ‘critical gap’ in the treatment of mental health issues by the NHS. In response to the growing awareness of mental health problems, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced in January a number of initiatives to tackle the growing mental health issue, which suggest that one in four students will develop a form of depression during their time at University. The Prime Minister believes that offering more counselling services to students in need of psychological support will be a potential resolution to the problem.