Suicide is generally a major concern among college and university students worldwide.  This paper addresses local and international trends on the rate of suicide in institutions of higher learning. Literature reveals that there are common trends in the methods used to commit suicide. The commonly used method is overdose of medication/ingestion of poison. Students who seek mental health help are among the groups of students who succeed in committing suicide. Among the reasons, why students end up committing suicide, is relationship breakdown and academic difficulty.   In the recent years there has been a remarkable increase in the rate of suicide among the black students in institutions of higher. While about 24000 students attempt suicide, 1 in 100 succeed which makes suicide the second leading causes of death in the United States of America. Around November 2022, South Africa has witnessed 14000 deaths through suicide between the ages of 15 – 29 years in a period of one year. Such high numbers of suicide call for strong strategies to track vulnerable students and put in place mechanisms to speedily intervene. Improving access to mental health facilities and well-trained staff is a demand, especially in poor multicultural contexts of South Africa.  

Jabulani is a retired professor of psychology from the University of Zululand.   He holds PhD in Community Psychology from the University of Zululand, Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from University of Natal, BA and BA Hons in Psychology from the University of the North, and Advanced Holistic Counselling Diploma from Sophia College – Western Australia. He served the University of Zululand since 2003 and retired in 2020. During his employ with the university, he served as a lecturer, progressed to senior lecturer, associate professor, and full professor. He served in structures such as HOD, Acting dean of the faculty and research ethics committee. He supervised to completion 46 masters and 18 PhD students. He served as the external examiner for a few South African universities. He externally examined both masters and doctoral projects from various universities in South Africa. His areas of interest include team building and teamwork, studies involving intervention strategies, philophonetics modes of counselling, marital counselling, suicidal and depression. He is currently working in Student Services Department, Career Guidance and Counselling where he is responsible for developing and implementing a counselling model that fits the university context.