Supporting International Students with Mental Health Problems
A Practical Perspective
The law in the area of student mental health is evolving and on many issues remains untested in the Courts. The precise nature of a university’s duty of care to its students with mental health
But the crux of this legal duty can be summed up relatively succinctly – as an obligation on the part of a university to deliver its services (including its pastoral care) to the standard of the ordinarily competent university and to act reasonably in providing its services and discharging its functions in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of its students.
The legal essence of this duty of care will be broadly the same for international and home students alike. Similarly, the duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants and students extends to individuals applying from overseas.
Legal considerations aside, supporting international students with issues. These issues need to be addressed proactively and holistically by universities if they are to provide the right sort of pastoral support for international students, at the right time, and seek to ensure a student experience which equals that enjoyed by home students.
So what sort of practical issues can arise when supporting international students with mental health problems? And what examples of good practice might be offered to assist in providing effective and timely support?
Here at Brunel University London, we are delighted to welcome students from over 110 different countries across the world, speaking around 140 different languages and dialects and representing over 20% of our student body, making our campus home to a vibrant community where diversity is highly valued.
We recognise that students from overseas may experience the same array of human emotions which home students may experience, such as homesickness, loneliness and anxiety, and we don’t make assumptions that international students are automatically vulnerable or to be treated as “special cases” when it comes to offering wellbeing support.
But we do recognise that such feelings can be exacerbated or prolonged by virtue of a student’s international status, for example instability or conflict in their home country.
The practical steps which any university may wish to look to put in place to minimise these negative emotions and assist students to
feel members of a caring institutional family need to be tailored to the particular characteristics of its own student community, culture and mission. For our own part, in addition to the range of wellbeing services offered to all our students, our specialist international student service provides advice and support for international students including an airport pick up service, 3-day orientations, a family club for those students who bring their families with them, monthly newsletters and a social programme with cultural visits and day trips planned throughout the academic year. We also provide assistance with the aspects that many home students take for granted such as setting up mobile phone accounts, opening bank accounts, joining students societies and using an Oyster card.
The Mental Wellbeing in HE Working Group (MWBHE), supported by UniversitiesUK and GuildHE, will be issuing guidance to higher education institutions later this year to assist them in supporting the mental wellbeing of all their students. The guidance will recognise that each institution is different and that the support each offers will depend on the nature of its own student cohort and the particular challenges it faces.
In deciding what form its wellbeing support should take, universities will undoubtedly want to remain mindful of the needs of their international students and look to ensure that they enjoy as much academic success and as positive a student experience as possible.
Siân Jones-Davies Senior Associate Eversheds LLP
Dr Ruth Caleb Head of Counselling Brunel University London Chair, Mental Wellbeing in HE (MWBHE) Working Group supported by UUK/GuildHE
Eversheds LLP For all your legal needs
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For further information please contact: Diane Gilhooley Partner, Head of the Eversheds Education Sector Group 0845 497 8151
dianegilhooley@eversheds.com
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