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Abstract
Higher education institutions worldwide are competing for students by providing unique learning and
well-being services to students. However, campus services often cannot cope with increasing demand
for counselling or other forms of well-being treatment with the increased number of students in their
campuses. The case will explore the university management’s interventions towards a student who
attempted suicide due to depression. Ways of identifying and monitoring students who may be at risk
of depression, suicide, self-injury or injuring others, will be focused. This case further offers crucial
points for providing awareness and the management of student well-being in university campuses.
Keywords
Management intervention, self-injury, well-being, management of student affairs, education
Introduction
‘In the university, studying hard is a way of life. Fatima, please take care of yourself. If you have any problems,
please talk to someone. Share with your friends. Find many friends. Don’t just keep quiet.’
Those were the words I told Fatima the day before it happened. I’m shocked. Why did this happen? Why did
she take the easy way out by killing herself? Why?
Anita, 11 April 2012.
The quote above was written by Anita in her counselling log. The Student Affairs Department in
formed Anita that a female student had committed suicide and asked her to inform the student’s parents
The student, Fatima Ahmad’s body was found at 5.30 PM, sprawled at the foot of the new four-storey
This case has been written solely for class discussion, for educational and development purposes and is not
intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation or to represent successful
or unsuccessful managerial decision making or endorse the management views. The authors may have disguised
or camouflaged some of the names, events, financial and other recognizable information to protect the identity of
individuals and confidentiality.Downloaded
The case is developed from field survey and personal experiences.
from bmc.sagepub.com at UNIV NEBRASKA LIBRARIES on April 13, 2015
102 Omar Abdull Kareem and Khuan Wai Bing
building. She had died of serious head injuries and broken legs. Many students attending classes on
Saturday had left after attending the last class. However, an eyewitness saw her fall from the top floor of
the building. Police had ruled out foul play. With a heavy heart, Anita picked up the phone to inform
Fatima’s parents. Her mind was thinking about the other troubled students? What intervention should she
do? What intervention can her department do?
Our mission is to provide the best education in the country. We emphasize a liberal and multi-disciplinary
education. Students are equipped with a broad knowledge encompassing global issues, including science, ethics,
culture, language, and humanities and in-depth studies in specialised fields. This approach will enable students
to be open-minded and look at national issues.
During the freshman year, students are assigned to an academic advisor who works with the student
to understand what the student needs to know and the most suitable way to complete his or her studies.
The faculty practises personalized and ‘Open door’ educational approaches where students can obtain
appropriate feedback and guidance on planning their academic learning.
The University College’s intensive education required long days. Lecture hours begin at 8.00 AM
and end at 7.00 PM. Lectures for a three credit course are divided into 2 + 1 (2 hours and one hour)
in a week. Academic requirements for students included attending at least 15 credit hours of courses
a semester. However, many students choose to attend a maximum of 21 credit hours to have more free
time in the final semester to complete their project thesis work. This structure placed great importance
on student interaction where for every course, students are required to do presentations, and be involved
in group discussions to develop their communication, teamwork, critical thinking, leadership and
other skills.
Teaching in Universities is deeply enmeshed in interpersonal skills emphasis, but how might academic
programmes be enriched further by the inclusion of theories of emotions? Beginning teachers are not provided
with the theoretical tools to deconstruct the emotion-saturated environment that shapes their work and which
they shape with each emotional performance (Wallace, 2010),
There is a lack of early intervention programmes aimed to improve and promote mental health outcomes to the
whole population (Universal programme) (Well, Barlow & Stewart-Brown, 2003), including shaping of more
positive attitudes to mental health (Wyn, Cahill, Holdsworth, Rowling & Carson, 2000). In the training for
staff and students—where do emotions fit in such coping and preventive leadership preparation programmes?
(Schmidt, 2010).
He felt interventions should not be confined to just Student Affairs Department’s role. Intervention
should start in class and aim to deliver a specific curriculum to the students and school should change the
ethos and culture.
Anita recalled reading about the rising rate of depression. A prediction by World Health Organization
stipulated by the year 2020, depression will have risen to become the second greatest cause of human
suffering and disability (Yapko, 2009). ‘What are the guiding principles of health promotion (Rothwell
et al., 2010) What are the key challenges in the short-term and long-term nature of health promotion?’
asked Anita.
room and contorted her body without moving and without switching on the lights. She had stayed in a
house with 11 other girls in a housing area, 4 kilometres from the campus.
As the house rentals are expensive for students, we have to cramp into a four bedroom unfurnished house with
three people in one room. With financial constraints, we have to make do with mattresses on the floor in the room
while we study in the hall or at the campus library. We choose to stay outside campus to have more freedom and
we can do our cooking to reduce expenditure,
Conclusion
Higher education institutions worldwide are under tremendous pressure to compete for students and to
capture a share of the education market. With multiple study options available to students locally and
internationally including virtual education, higher education institutions incessantly try to improve,
renew, rebrand and provide unique learning and well-being experiences to students. However, campus
services often cannot cope with increasing demand for counselling or other forms of well-being
treatment with the large number of students in their campuses. Given the importance of student well-
being, this case presented a situation where a student was depressed and committed suicide due to her
inability to cope with student life. From a management’s perspective, student self-injury behaviours are
serious problems and need to be prevented as they can affect an organization’s performance and reputa
tion. The issue of mental health and well-being is difficult to be handled, as there are many possible
factors that contribute to it. However, if the management and staff have the knowledge and skill to
observe and recognize the symptoms and behaviours of students at risk, strategies can be formulated
to prevent the occurrence of injury to oneself and to others. The challenge lies in having a better under
standing and attitude towards students and other people with mental or behaviour problems. More
importantly, education providers should also consider fostering a supportive campus environment by
strengthening students’ resilience and coping ability through early intervention, preventive measures and
other help-system.
Acknowledgements
The authors of this case express their sincere thanks to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student Affairs) of the University
College, for information, support and facilities for conducting this research project. The authors also wish to thank
the management for permission to publish the case.
Note
1. The authors have written this case as revised and updated version of their case titled ‘Management Intervention
on Injury Behaviour of Students’ presented at the International Conference on Management Cases, ICMC 2013
held on 5–6 December 2013 at the BIMTECH Campus, Greater Noida, India.
References
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Khuan Wai Bing is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Sultan Idris
Education University. With more than 24 years of teaching experience, she is the trainer for numerous
international and local training programmes including Educational Leadership and Management,
Qualitative Research, Corporate Social Responsibility, Training Strategies and others.
[E-mail: khuan.wb@fpe.upsi.edu.my]