THE Irish third level education system has been sluggish in its efforts to examine the issue of student stress and its effects, including under achievement, dropping out of college and, in some cases, suicide.

While numerous studies have been carried out in the UK and the US, it has been largely left to student counsellors and student representatives to voice concerns about the impact of stress on students.

"Stress is a crucial issue for us to look at in third level colleges but only in so far as it reflects stress in general in society," says Dr Declan Aherne, head of counselling at UL.

"If you're in an educational situation then you should be educating, people to deal with that stress." He believes that increased resourcing and the integration of support services into every aspect of college life are necessary if the problem of stress is to be properly addressed.

Aherne was one of the speakers at a recent seminar organised by the Higher Education Authority to address the subject of stress on students at third level.

Financial pressures continue to be one of the principal causes of stress, along with increased competitiveness and greater pressure to succeed and establish a career, although according to USI welfare officer Noeleen Hartigan. Other contributory factors include academic stress, teaching methods, lack of funding for, and lack of consultation about, support services and problems with the introduction of semesterisation.

Despite evidence of increasing stress on students, counselling services at third level remain badly under resourced (see table), raising the question of whether or not those in need of assistance will be able to get it in time.

Dr David Thomas, director of student health in TCD, believes that a joint initiative is necessary by the Departments of Health and Education, combined with increased funding for support services and the return of medical card entitlements to students.

"We must move away from the concept of running health and counselling services where we are constantly carrying on an acute treatment service dealing with sick students, to a wider concept of a health service caring for the well with an emphasis on prevention," he says.

According to a pilot study on pre exam stress conducted in TCD the incidence of excessive anxiety or depression identified in the 266 students involved was significantly higher than would be expected in a general practice and students who fell into this group were up to four times more likely to fail their exams.

The study also found that the incidence of anxiety and depression: was high among first years but rose significantly with increasing seniority. These students also experienced sleep disturbance and were less likely to play organised sport or take regular exercise.

THOMAS concluded that there were high levels of pre exam stress among students which, where abnormally high, affected performance and failure rates and he recommends sport, exercise and a balanced lifestyle as well as increased resourcing of support services and research into methods of stress reduction.

At the most extreme end of the scale, there remains the possibility of attempted or actual suicide. Student suicide remains something of a taboo subject. According to research conducted in the UK, the rate of student suicide rose fourfold between 1983 and 1994, to a rate of just under one suicide per 10,000 students. One in five Irish suicides are aged 15-24 years and young males are particularly vulnerable. Paradoxically, they are also less likely to seek counselling than females.

According to a recent survey conducted in UCG, 22 per cent of first year student respondents who were under severe stress in college had considered suicide, with the incidence of those considering suicide as an option, however seriously, dropping by around 50 per cent among non first years.

"There is an increasing number of students who will require a considerable amount of help to survive college," Jim Byrne, head of student counselling in UCG, told the seminar. Byrne also told those in attendance that he had encountered four attempted suicides in recent times.

"The principal stressor is financial and I think it's always going to be", says Byrne, "but if I was linking this with suicide, the main stressors would be lack of confidence, poor social skills and an inability to blend into college life.

"The numbers are bigger, the structures are more loose knit and there is a greater emphasis on striving for success. They don't have the opportunity or even the invitation to get involved in other activities."

Byrne does not believe suicide is on the increase among students.

"One in 10,000 would be successful in taking their lives, or about nine per year throughout third level institutions but it is nine too many."

Yet, as Noeleen Hartigan points out, the incidence of suicide and attempted suicide in Ireland is probably under reported. Combined with the lack of a nationwide survey on the impact of stress on: students, the seriousness of the problems facing students and the various courses of action this leads them to consider remain unclear.

"It's very positive to see the HEA has started looking at the issue of student support needs as part of their brief and the need for a more holistic approach to education," says Hartigan, but she stressed the need for the colleges to clearly define their ethos, to formatise support systems for students and staff and, most of all, "to take on board the very strong message from student counsellors and support providers".