{"id":795370,"date":"2026-10-08T00:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795370\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:30:08","slug":"family-of-student-who-took-his-own-life-say-university-will-be-held-to-account-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/795370\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of student who took his own life say university \u2018will be held to account\u2019 | Universities"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a student who took his own life after being wrongly told he would not be eligible to graduate<\/a> have said the University of Glasgow \u201cwill be held to account\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ethan Scott Brown, 23, was due to graduate in December 2024 after studying geography.<\/p>\n

However, his family said that in September that year, the university<\/a> told him he had not been awarded a grade for one course and would therefore not be eligible to graduate with an honours degree.<\/p>\n

His family said as a result, he took his own life on 13 December 2024, the day he should have been graduating.<\/p>\n

He was found dead in his bedroom by his mother, Tracy Scott, that morning.<\/p>\n

Scott, who collected her son\u2019s degree posthumously, has called for a fatal accident inquiry to be held into his death.<\/p>\n

The university has said it is \u201cprofoundly sorry\u201d and is implementing a series of recommendations after a review.<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s internal inquiry found \u201csystemic\u201d errors in the way Brown\u2019s degree had been graded, and that he had enough marks for a 2:1 honours degree. It also found that although Brown had told staff that he had concerns about his mental health, they had failed to offer him support.<\/p>\n

Tracy Scott, pictured after a meeting with the Scottish education secretary on Wednesday. Photograph: Jane Barlow\/PA<\/p>\n

On Tuesday it was reported that the family had settled a civil court action with the university. The sum of the settlement has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the family met the Scottish education secretary, M\u00e0iri McAllan, at St Andrew\u2019s House in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the meeting, their solicitor Aamer Anwar said they had placed \u201cthe University of Glasgow<\/a> on notice that they will be held to account\u201d.<\/p>\n

Anwar claimed that in its drive to become a global institution, the university had \u201cforgotten its soul\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cTheir failures were catastrophic and systemic. They failed not just in their duty of care to Ethan, but to many other students over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s meeting with the minister was important and was welcomed. The minister offered to ask the QAA [Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education], who are investigating the university, to meet with the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe family welcomed the apology by Ms McAllan for her predecessor\u2019s statement in September 2025 which implied an acceptance of the university\u2019s position that Ethan\u2019s case was an isolated incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anwar added that the university\u2019s governance process was \u201cnot fit for purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s solicitor, Aamer Anwar, claimed that the University of Glasgow had \u2018forgotten its soul\u2019. Photograph: Jane Barlow\/PA<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the University of Glasgow said: \u201cThe university is profoundly sorry that Ethan tragically took his own life and fully understands the deep distress this has caused his family. We repeat our sincere apology as well as our deepest sympathy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing an internal investigation into assessment regulations, the university self-referred to the Scottish Funding Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Quality Assurance Agency subsequently carried out a targeted peer review, which resulted in a series of recommendations for action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university fully accepted the recommendations and is on track to implement them.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Crown Office said the circumstances of Brown\u2019s death were being investigated by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, adding that the family would be kept updated on any developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a student who took his own life after being wrongly told he would not be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-795370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}