Student Suicides Rise

UK: The student suicide rate has overtaken that of non-students of the same age group, according to a study.

The student suicide rate in UK increased from 6.6 to 10.3 per 100,000 people (56%) between 2007 and 2016.

The study from Hong Kong-based - Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention - said 146 students in UK committed suicide in 2016, the highest in records.

The rate for male students in 2016 was 15.7 per 100,000 people, compared with 14.8 among 20 - to 24-year-old males in the general population, while the rate for females was 6.0 per 100,000 people, compared with 5.7 among their non-student counterparts.

Sir Anthony Seldon, vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham and a campaigner on student well-being, said: "Student suicide rates and emotional distress levels could be reduced at university if we acted differently.

"More support in transitions, better tutoring and early warning, more peer to peer support, an enhanced sense of belonging, would all enhance wellbeing and reduce risk.

"We are obsessed by reactive policy once students hit the bottom of the waterfall; we need to be putting preventative policies in place to prevent them ever tipping over the edge," said Sir Anthony.