Number of student suicides rises by 56pc

The number of university students taking their own lives has overtaken the rate of suicide among the general population for the first time. Research by the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention found that the rate had risen by 56 per cent between 2007 and 2016 to 10.3 deaths per 100,000 students. The number of female students taking their own lives rose from 22 in 2012 to 51 in 2016.

Sir Anthony Seldon, vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham and a campaigner on student wellbeing, told the BBC that “better tutoring and early warning, more peer to peer support” would improve wellbeing and reduce risk.