Sister of Man Met student who died by suicide to deliver petition to parliament
Isabella De George is joining other bereaved families to call for a statutory duty on universities to keep their students safe
Last updated 25th Apr 2023
The sister of a Manchester Metropolitan University student who died by suicide is demanding a change in the law to make universities more responsible for student safety.
Isabella De George's brother, Harrison, died in December 2020 while studying and teaching at Manchester Metropolitan University after reaching out to the university's support services.
Isabella says he also hadn't shown up for his placement, something she thinks should have raised alarm bells with university staff.
Today, she is set to join other bereaved families to submit a petition to 10 Downing Street aimed at preventing university suicides.
The petition, which argues for universities to be made legally accountable for how students are treated, has garnered 128,293 signatures.
The #ForThe100 campaign was launched in support of families of students who have been victims of suicide at universities to combat "the lack of a statutory obligation to care for students."
Isabella said:
"Harrison was a lively, passionate, loving individual. He was so kind, really passionate, and genuinely a great person to be around because he truly lit up the room with his smile.
"After Harrison passed away, I found out that he was meant to be on placement that day, but he never actually showed up. I spoke to the university, and their policy was that unless a student missed their placement for more than two consecutive days, the placement did not have to inform the university.
"That was one thing that greatly concerned me because the university had no idea where Harrison was.
"The idea of the duty of care is that there will be some form of legal duty of care created for university students, just like what you have at school under the age of 18, and also what your employer provides to you, even what your local restaurant provides in terms of asking about allergies.
"Currently, there is no legal duty of care, which leads to a whole host of problems, meaning that universities don't have to adhere to certain frameworks, such as the Universities UK frameworks, because there is no legal obligation to ensure that they are doing this.
"That means, in reality, they aren't living up to what they should be providing for students in terms of looking after their mental health."
A Manchester Metropolitan University spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with Harrison's family and friends. Student welfare is always our top priority and we are keen to explore any steps we can take to enhance the support we offer.
"We provide a range of measures to support mental health and wellbeing of our students and staff and continue to review and add to these where necessary.
"Following Harrison's death and subsequent discussions with his family, we reviewed our processes with placement providers and have re-emphasised the importance of them informing us at the earliest opportunity if one of our students has not attended their workplace or there are wellbeing concerns.”