The University of Buckingham has introduced a policy which makes students sign a contract promising not to take recreational drugs on campus, reports the Daily Mail.
It comes at a time where a recent study reported by the Sunday Times showed a massive 42 percent rise since 2015 in the number of students who have been disciplined for drug-use at universities.
Sir Anthony Seldon, the University of Buckingham's vice-chancellor, wrote in the same newspaper that universities in the UK needed to do more to help students who are taking drugs, but also stressed that, under this new rule, any student of his that persisted to take drugs on campus would be expelled.
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"The University of Buckingham is working towards becoming Britain's first 'drug free' university," he wrote.
"We plan to ask our students to sign a contract that makes it clear that they will not take drugs on university property, nor be under their influence when on university business.
"A completely new approach is needed. Student lives are needlessly being lost and imperilled."
Though no one can criticise his intention, this 'new approach' is quite familiar, based on the principle that making promises and just saying 'no' acts as a deterrent and reduces the amount of drug-related deaths among young people.
The vice-chancellor has called out other universities for their lack of action and asked for them to at least act on the issue.
"Universities need to shake themselves up and take more responsibility for students in their care," he said.
"Information about the harm that drugs could do should be everywhere - as ubiquitous as the warnings on cigarette packets."
He continued: "Our aim is not to be punitive or repressive but to be compassionate and enlightened, helping our students learn how to be fully adult and responsible to themselves and to others. In this, drug-taking has no place."
Other universities impose penalties such as fines or suspensions when a student is caught drug-taking. At Leicester University, and City, University of London, not a single sanction was given for drug use, but at universities in Essex and Sussex, 200 students have been punished for drug offences since 2014-15.
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Whatever your stance, at least the University of Buckingham are flagging up the issue to the public domain.
Words: Jacque Talbot
Featured Image Credit: Gramercy Pictures
Topics: Students, UK News, University, Drugs