ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the phenomena of stress and well-being among university students. It begins by claiming the need for insisting on an educational agenda within higher education. Higher education has changed rapidly, with a significant expansion of the monitoring of educational outcomes, by increased political regulation and by a neoliberal logic of markets. The newcomer phenomenon has been researched thoroughly in the field of education and employment and is also identified as a prevalent risk factor in developing stress. The chapter describes how psychology students are struggling with issues of adaptation, belonging, performance, high expectations, and peer-competition. The neoliberalisation of education has led to a discourse on the benefits of education being positioned almost exclusively in terms of their effect on income and their ability to produce a valuable outcome for society. Some of the responses to the apparent mental state crisis among students in higher education have been addressed by different approaches.
