Boost for student mental health as partnerships deliver improved access and range of support at universities, evaluation finds
The Office for Students has published an independent evaluation of its Mental Health Challenge Competition including a project spearheaded by a Birmingham City University leader.
The £14.5 million programme, which ran from June 2019 to July 2022, funded 10 projects seeking to deliver a ‘step change in mental health outcomes for all students’, and the evaluation found that the programme led to a number of improvements.
One of the projects it funded was a partnership, initiated by the now Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) of Birmingham City University, between the University of Northumbria, Jisc and other organisations, to use data to identify students who were potentially at risk of mental ill health and to intervene at an early stage to support them. It focused on innovative integration of technology, advanced educational data analytics, student relationship management, and effective models of support.
Professor Peter Francis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Birmingham City University, Project Director and Lead Principal Investigator of the research, said: “Through the creation of both analysis and monitoring dashboards, working with students, it is now possible to collate indicators of risk to enable a university to deliver effective early interventions.
“This allows a ‘whole university’ preventative approach to be delivered in a transformative way to ensure no student falls through the cracks and they receive the full support they need.
Dr James Newham, Northumbria University, project lead, said: “Given rising rates of mental health difficulties the project sought to develop a preventative strategy that uses Big Data from universities, with student consent, to better identify students at risk and support a thriving student community.
“Student endorsement has been key, and we have seen large scale approval with up to 70% of students giving consent to this approach and more than 50,000 students completing wellbeing questionnaires to help build this system.”
“Using this data, we were able to build a predictive analytic system, from which we could send regular tailored messages to students that signpost them towards support that is appropriate. This approach increased the number of at-risk students self-referring to counselling and increased uptake in less resource intensive services, such as self-help resources.”
Chair of the OfS, Lord Wharton, said: “Supporting students in relation to their mental health is important if they are to achieve their full potential and be well equipped for a successful life after graduation.
“Our evaluation shows that students have seen tangible benefits from these projects, including improved access to support and strengthened partnerships between universities and colleges and other organisations for more effective support.
“Universities and colleges are demonstrating a clear commitment to make students’ mental health a priority, with 80 per cent of senior staff agreeing to do so. We are pleased to see commitments to continue funding projects beyond the OfS’s investment. We encourage all universities and colleges to draw on these projects to develop and share their own approaches to improve mental health provision for students.”
The evaluation sets out recommendations for further work to improve support for students, including how higher education providers could do more to help students transition from further education and guidance on applying these practices and tools in their own approaches.