This week’s parliamentary debate on student suicides was a poignant reminder of that day almost five years ago when my son Daniel began his journey in higher education. Because, like other bereaved parents visiting Westminster on 5 June, my child never returned from university.
In the same year that my son died by suicide, another 93 students ended their lives. Every one of these tragedies has resulted in life-changing consequences for families and friends.
But would a statutory duty of care help to reduce suicide, or improve a university’s response to a student in crisis? Many believe so, with 128,000 joining our campaign. Others who have not signed perhaps imagine that some legal duty of care, or at least a “moral duty” to look after students, already exists. This is a fallacy – and a dangerous one.
The current “general duty of care” required by higher education amounts to no more than, as our petition explains, acting “reasonably to protect the health, safety and welfare of their students”. Put simply, institutions must not cause harm to their students through their own actions.
