STUDENTS OF COLOUR TWICE AS LIKELY TO DEVELOP MENTAL ILLNESS AT OXFORD
A report by the University of Oxford Student Union has found that black and ethnic minority students are twice as likely to develop symptoms of mental illness than white students at Oxford.
The survey conducted by the student union’s Welfare and Equal Opportunities Officer, Farheen Ahmed, revealed that 19% of BAME students reported feeling lonely or isolated either most or all of the time at Oxford.
“The survey particularly picked out BAME students who were suffering from mental health issues, but not necessarily reporting them or seeking support from university,” says Ahmed.
The study comes after figures showed nearly one in three Oxford colleges failed to admit a single black student in 2015, with one college not offering a place to a black student in five years.
The lack of BAME representation across the student and staff body in the UK’s most elite universities has led students to experience isolation and ‘imposter syndrome’.
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Vice President of the Cambridge African and Caribbean Society, Chelsea Kwakye, says the lack of BAME staff at Oxbridge makes mental health services unapproachable.
“If you wanted to talk to your tutor, or a student nurse then you either see a white man or woman, so trying to explain that you’re having imposter syndrome wouldn’t really resonate as they wouldn’t understand.”
Cambridge University figures revealed that between 2010-2015, a quarter of colleges failed to make any offers to black British A-Level students.
A 2016 report found 6 percent of professors at Oxford were of a BAME background with Cambridge pulling slightly ahead with 9.5 percent.
MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, has called for Oxbridge to end its “social apartheid”, saying universities fail to reflect the UK’s population. A letter, organised by Lammy, was sent by more than 100 MPs to Oxford and Cambridge to urge reform.
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Read more about the experiences of BAME students at Oxbridge in our magazine!
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