Recommendation 67

Mental health has been flagged to us as a particular area of concern. We have heard that students tend to suffer poor mental health at higher rates than the rest of the adult population.154 Matt Crilly, President of NUS Scotland, told us that mental health waiting times at Scottish universities were “already too long” pre-covid and he saw “students waiting for months for an appointment to see a mental health specialist.”155 Research published by NUS Scotland in October 2020 found that, prior to the covid-19 pandemic, 53.86% of students seeking support waited more than one month and 20.84% of students waited more than three months.156