A campaign to educate people about alcohol has met with success and a certain degree of controversy.
Alcohol use and abuse among university students is one of the most significant challenges facing those involved in educating and supporting today’s students. The adverse consequences of excessive drinking among students include physical injury, damage to relationships and risk- taking behaviour, including unprotected sexual activity.
Students also experience the negative academic fallout from missing lectures and assignment deadlines with concern being expressed at the link between student drop-out rates and alcohol consumption.
Head of the student health department at UCC Dr Michael Byrne notes: “The adverse consequences of the misuse of alcohol among our students are very real, all too common and occasionally have been very serious, up to and including devastating injury and death.”
Many Irish students come to university as experienced drinkers due to their early induction into alcohol, says Dr Byrne; first- year students with poor coping skills are particularly vulnerable to developing an over-reliance on alcohol.
There is considerable work going on in UCC to try to get to grips with the problem of alcohol use and misuse in students. The issue has been identified as the number one priority of the health matters initiative which is working towards making UCC an officially recognised health-promoting university by 2014.
Source: Michelle McDonagh, Irish Times, 31/12/2013
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