Beijing's education authorities have told colleges and universities to keep an individual psychological health record for each freshman amid rising concern over campus suicides and the number of students suffering from stress.

"This is part of a crisis prevention system designed to detect signs of psychological problems and prevent them from escalating into crises," said Zhu Shanlu, a senior official in charge of education in Beijing.
 
According to Zhu, all the first-year students will receive a psychological checkup, the result of which will be kept in their individual files, and all students will receive one hour a week of instruction on psychological issues for one semester.

Throughout their college years, each class will have at least one coordinator, who acts as either a tutor or a teaching assistant, to keep an eye on the students' mental health and report to the school's psychological health committee.

The committee should provide counseling to students showing signs of stress and should have at least one counselor for every 3,000 students and teachers, according to Zhu.

About 700,000 students are studying at Beijing-based colleges and universities, but there were only 108 counselors in 2006. "We need to train and recruit more professionals to fill the gap," Zhu told an internal meeting on Tuesday.

Psychological problems among college students have become increasingly prominent, a result of the high pressures from study, relationships and immense competition in the job market.

Beijing has designated May 25 as "students' mental health day".

According to a survey conducted among 6,500 students at 22 Beijing-based colleges and universities this year, 87.5 percent of the students were psychologically healthy, up nearly four percent from 1998.

It also found that boys suffered more from stress than girls, as Chinese society traditionally expects more from males than females, according to the survey, sponsored by the municipal education committee.

Students from low-income families are more likely to suffer psychological problems, it found.

Though no official figure is available on the number of the mentally ill or suicide attempts on Chinese campuses, some sociologists estimate an average of 100 college students kill themselves each year. The top three causes of suicide were failure in exams, financial difficulties and failed relationships.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2007)