What can your university do to combat student loneliness?

With 59 per cent of UK students often feeling lonely and 37 per cent considering dropping out as a result, loneliness is something universities cannot afford to ignore. Each student dropout costs a UK university up to £27,750 or as much as £300,000 per international student. Beyond the finances, social inclusion and meaningful social interactions have been shown to contribute to students’ academic success.

While student loneliness isn’t new, it is a growing problem for higher education, with almost three quarters of students unsatisfied with university mental health support, according to a 2020 survey. Recent lockdowns and the move to more hybrid learning have increased the likelihood of loneliness among students.

It’s clear there’s a misalignment between student expectations and requirements for social inclusion, mental health and well-being support and what universities currently offer. Here are five steps your university can take to combat student loneliness.

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1. Reduce the stigma

Admitting you’re struggling with a condition that’s associated with a lack of friends or social skills often inhibits those suffering from coming forward. Producing open and supportive communication that stimulates discussion and conversations about loneliness helps normalise the subject.

Communications teams should direct these messages via places and channels where students spend time online. The most downloaded and used apps are social media and instant messengers. Strategies must go beyond email and include creating short-form, mobile-friendly formats such as videos that are easy to consume and share.

Engage senior university leaders, student ambassadors and those who hold respect and influence across the student population in these conversations. The University of Lincoln’s Student Life hub is a great example of engaging students to create valuable, relatable content across their online “hub” and social platforms.

Sharing statistics about the prevalence of loneliness, case studies of those who’ve successfully overcome it, tips, advice and directions to available support services is key to reducing the stigma.

2. Connected university support

Your students can seek support from outside of your institution so understanding the bigger picture of what student and mental health services are available at a local and national level is important. Developing working relationships and information-sharing practices with external organisations such as the NHS, mental health charities, partner universities, high schools and colleges can aid understanding of the latest trends and best practice across a broad spectrum of support providers.

The UK government has announced plans to close the gaps between university and NHS mental health services. Institutions should take advantage of this drive to offer connected support and provision that prevents students falling through the gaps. This could be in the form of physical centres that students can visit in person, formed by regional partnerships. For example, a clinic has been developed at the University of Manchester, with satellite clinics at the University of Bolton and the University of Salford, formed by a partnership of the region’s five universities and supported by the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. Accessed via a referral from university counselling services, the clinic offers a full range of mental health assessment and support.

3. Co-produce support plans

Students and past recipients of university mental health support should be involved in its future design. Many support relationships end when the recipient leaves university, meaning feedback and data collection ends there too. Ensuring the relationship, if even light touch, continues post-university increases the opportunity for longer-term learning and feedback.

Universities can act as enablers, supporting financially and with staff time, with the goal of co-creating loneliness support processes such as digital resources to support student transitions to university, selection and review of digital support tools and shaping strategy through student-led problem solving booths.

4. Improving onboarding procedures

Early touchpoints, from pre-admissions in colleges and high schools, through to induction should focus on providing support and guidelines on study, exercise, time management, sleep, paid work and social skills. Provide resources for school liaison teams, pastoral leads, parents and teachers to push these messages to students and help prepare them with social and life skills and knowledge of the support available.

The application process should support students to feel comfortable to disclose any prior mental health difficulties and other characteristics that can put them disproportionately more at risk of experiencing loneliness. While it’s always a student’s personal choice as to whether to disclose a mental health difficulty, research shows that of those who do, 78 per cent rate support they received as “good” or “very good”.

Universities currently use disparate methods of inter-student communication prior to joining, including WhatsApp, Facebook groups, social media pages and forums. Many of these are unregulated and lack the one-to-one, meaningful interactions that students require. Universities must look for and vet safe online spaces in which to connect their students.

5. Consistent workload

Many students point to exams and submission deadlines as key moments when workload and associated stresses and feelings of isolation intensify. These tend to involve extended periods of remote, isolated work and disrupted routines. Creating curricula that focus on year-round workload consistency with regular assessment, consistent feedback, peer contact and tutor input should be the goal.

Although it’s a delicate balance, workload and assessments should stretch and test learning without imposing unnecessary stress. Timetables that enable students to pursue non-academic activities, exercise, socialise and see their families consistently throughout the year help them develop social skills and friendships and improve learning outcomes.

Measures should not be focused simply on increasing opportunities for people to meet or speak but on helping students build, maintain and re-establish meaningful, long-term relationships.

Georgia Wheadon is founder of Umii.

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