By Lucy Ashton
The SNP have been accused of presiding over a “mental health crisis” among university staff after it emerged that over 6,000 university staff missed work as a result of poor mental health or stress since 2017/18.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives via Freedom of Information Requests reveal that nearly 1,500 university lecturers and staff were signed off work due to stress during the last academic year alone, with a total of 6,766 signed off due to stress in the last five years.
These statistics likely underestimate the true scale of the problem as not all universities provided data.
The figures also come in a context of over 6,670 school staff and teachers being signed off with stress in 2021/22, and the number of university students seeking mental health support having tripled in the last ten years.
Shadow higher education minister Pam Gosal has described the findings as “extremely worrying”, claiming that university staff have been “pushed to the limit” under the SNP.
“We have already seen an alarming number of stress-related absences among school staff, and it seems that these pressures and strains are also very prevalent in higher education. University staff are being pushed to the limit and SNP ministers are simply not giving them the support they badly need. With lecturers, teachers and university staff equally scunnered, it is easy to forget that Nicola Sturgeon claimed that education would be her ‘number one’ priority.
“The First Minister asked to be judged on her education record, but these statistics show just how shameful this record is.
“The SNP’s failures in education are not only letting down young Scottish learners, they are also taking a terrible toll on the mental health of our educators.”
- Over 6,000 University lecturers and staff have missed days of work due to stress or poor mental health since 2017-18. Freedom of information requests reveal that 6,766 university staff have missed days of work as a result of stress or poor mental health over the past 5 academic years. (Scottish Conservative FOI Request, Available on Request)
- Nearly 1,500 University lecturers and staff have missed days of work due to stress or poor mental in 2021-2022. Freedom of information requests reveal that 1,439 university staff have missed days of work as a result of stress or poor mental health over the past 5 academic years. This figure is likely higher as not all universities provided data. (Scottish Conservative FOI Request, Available on Request)
- More than one third of university students reported depression. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 36 per cent of university students reported moderately severe or severe symptoms of depression. (NUS Scotland, Broke: How Scotland is failing its students, 21 February 2022, link).
- The number of students seeking mental health help at university has tripled in 10 years. Freedom of information requests revealed that across 10 Scottish universities 14,920 students applied for help with their mental health in 2020/21. (STV News, 31 October 2022, link).
- Over 6,000 teachers and school staff were signed off with stress or poor mental health. Freedom of information requests reveal that 6,670 members of school staff missed days of work as a result of stress or poor mental health (Scottish Daily Express, 24 January, link).
- Over the past 5 years there have been over 27,000 teachers and school staff signed off with stress or poor mental health. Freedom of information requests reveal that 27,205 members of school staff missed days of work as a result of stress or poor mental health. (Scottish Daily Express, 24 January, link).
- There have been almost 75,000 recorded physical or verbal attacks on school teachers and staff since 2017-18. Data reveals there have been at least 73,198 instances of verbal or physical abuse aimed at school teachers or staff since 2017-18. (Scottish Daily Express, 6 December 2022, link).
- In 2021-22, there was almost 20,000 recorded physical or verbal attacks on school teachers and staff. Data reveals there have been at least 19,517 instances of verbal or physical abuse aimed at school teachers or staff in the last academic year 2021-22. (Scottish Daily Express, 6 December 2022, link).
- International student fees set to overtake Government funding as biggest revenue source for Scottish Universities. Universities Scotland said: ‘Scotland’s funding model now bakes in a structural reliance on international fees to such an extent that this source of revenue is forecast to overtake Scottish Government funding as a percentage of the sector’s total income in 2023/24, reaching 27% of the sector’s average income compared to 25% for SFC grants’. (The Herald, 27 September 2022, link).