Using hybrid-AI software to scale delivery and heighten effectiveness of Meee’s FUEL student self-help mental health training programmes

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Meee's FAST Start project proposal will deliver an industry-leading technical solution to help overcome the mental-wellbeing challenges increasingly experienced by those attending further and higher education institutions.Over 20% of university students have a mental health diagnosis with some groups within student bodies being at greater risk. Non-binary students are four times as likely to experience mental health problems than binary students.5.3% of students taking their first degree who entered UK universities in 2019-20 were no longer in higher education a year later. Some universities had drop-out rates as high as 32.3%. This is a symptom of students being unable to cope due to a lack of suitable support. It also has a considerable negative financial and reputational impact on universities.Our vision is to incorporate cutting-edge AI-driven software into our existing and proven student FUEL training programmes to improve their delivery, scalability, and effectiveness, thereby increasing levels of success in more students' mental self-management, mental resilience, and long-term positive behaviours.Our key objectives for this project are to deliver a software product 'Meee Student FUEL module' that (a) analyses huge quantities of student feedback rapidly, (b) uses innovative and ethical AI to provide more forensic, and therefore valuable, analysis of the feedback than humans can do and (c) is aligned to do this in support of our FUEL programme's principles, structure, and delivery.An additional objective is to incorporate a smart conversation bot as a new, engaging, and low-friction survey method for students to use at any stage, 24/7, of their journey through university. This will increase the quantity and quality of the feedback data from students that will be analysed by the new AI software moduleUniversities are actively looking to leverage data better through digital transformation. This funding will accelerate development and delivery of an AI-driven solution that will meet their urgent requirements. As our FUEL programme is designed to (a) enable students to improve their own self-care and (b) be taught to a wide variety of support staff in universities, we will be actively addressing the shortfall in existing mental health support.Improving student retention by 1% overall will save a university on average £1.39m per year. Improving student engagement and success will have a long-term socio-economic benefit locally, regionally, and nationally.