Claims over a list of so-called 'worst' universities in the UK for mental health support have been retracted due to a small sample size – and it has also emerged that just ONE student from listed Falmouth University had been interviewed.

The data, which came from a survey conducted by 3Gem, on behalf of Ivory Research, purported to show that 97% of Falmouth students surveyed said that mental health support at the uni was either ‘poor' or ‘inadequate.’

This rating put it in fourth place among the five 'worst ranked universities' in the UK.

However, survey data now provided to the Packet shows that in fact just one person listed themselves in the survey as being from Falmouth University and that only 1,000 students from across the UK were surveyed in total, spread across 159 universities.

The survey was carried out in July 2021, using an independent survey provider.

A spokesperson for the company that shared the report said that after re-examining the data it felt the sample size of students per university was too small to depict an accurate picture of specific universities in terms of a list of 'worst' , so was no longer promoting it in this way.

However, they believed the rest of the information gave "an accurate overview of the current situation regarding mental health support in universities, according to a sample of 1,000 UK students."

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The release included a quote from Maria Ovdii from Ivory Research, who said: "University is a challenging time for all students, but the pandemic has seen students isolated from their peers, tutors and the wider learning community so it comes as no surprise that mental health issues are on the rise.”

"Not only that, remote learning has also seen students denied the quality of education that they are paying for with 29% of students voting that remote learning had negatively impacted their health and 36% voting that it has negatively impacted their motivation."

"Now more than ever, it is so important that universities are doing everything they can to support their students, both academically and emotionally."

Falmouth University previously responded to the research saying: "We recognise that the pandemic has been an exceptionally difficult time for students and that demand is high for mental health services across the county.

"The mental health and wellbeing of our students is of utmost importance to us, and we continue to invest in resources to make sure our student community is supported via our Student Support Services teams.

"The student voice is important in the ongoing development of our services and as such, we are disappointed and concerned to see the feedback collected by Ivory Research and would be interested in hearing more about their data."