The number of first year students with mental health issues has risen almost fivefold during the past decade as more young women seek help when arriving at University.
As bad as the figures look they probably underestimate the true level as they do not include students who declared other conditions such as a physical disability which, because of the way Universities collected data, tended to mask the real situation.
In the past academic year 15,395 first year students, or 2 per cent of the total, reported a mental health condition which was almost five times higher than the figure in 2006/7.
A quarter of Universities did not work closely with NHS secondary mental health services and two thirds did not provide access to NHS specialists. Universities UK is recommending that Universities work with the NHS to consider how mental health services should be provided for students.