Universities Told to Contact Students Loved Ones to Stop Suicides

Universities are being told to contact key family members, carers or friends if they have serious concerns about a student’s mental health – even without their permission.

Students should register a “trusted contact” when they start university, according to new guidance.

Universities UK (UUK) said its advice, which it shared with BBC News, aimed to prevent student suicides.

Bereaved loved ones say universities need to act on their policies.

The law allows organisations to share personal data in an emergency, and the guidance says most universities already have some sort of system in place for contacting next of kin in such situations, even without the student’s agreement.

But this is the first time all universities have been asked to get in touch with loved ones if there are concerns.

UUK say universities need to be proactive when it comes to preventing student suicides.

UUK’s guidance aims to make rules clearer so universities have more confidence about when to act, which Mr Dineen said would have made a difference.

“UEA did have that policy and they didn’t use it well, or at all,” he said, adding the university had since improved its services and policies.

UEA said it did not comment on individual cases but welcomed the focus on information sharing, adding it had introduced a policy asking students for advance consent to contact their loved ones.

UUK’s guidance says staff “should make every reasonable effort to secure consent” but “there are some circumstances in which a university can and should share information with emergency services and with trusted contacts, even where they have not been able to secure consent”.

It also asks universities to:

• check in with students and keep their contacts up to date
• give students examples of when they may decide to involve contacts
• produce clear, publicly available policies
• ensure staff are appropriately trained

Official estimates suggest 64 students killed themselves in England and Wales in the 2019-20 academic year.

Since 2016, the student suicide rate in England and Wales has been significantly lower than among the general population of similar ages. Suicide rates are generally higher in men than women.

But the student rates are only estimates, leading some parents to call for legislation for universities to report the annual number of student suicides.