ACADEMIC STRESS AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND ITS EFFECT ON MENTAL HEALTH

India has the third leading higher education system in the world, next to the United States and China. It has developed at a fast pace by adding around 22,000 colleges and more than 13.93 million students in a decade from 2000-01 to 2010-11(Latest Statistics on Indian Higher Education, 2012). In 1950 there were merely 20 universities in India, but at present in 2014 the number of Universities has tremendously raised to 677, in these 45 central universities, 318 state universities, 129 deemed universities, 185 state private universities. The number of colleges has also spread out 74 times with just 500 in 1950 rising to 37,204, as on 31st March, 2013. This increase in students' enrolment in higher education has also witnessed dramatic increase in mental health problems. Nowadays lot of money has been invested in education. It is the students that represent the world's investment for future. Their mental or psychological health and well-being are very imperative not only for their own growth but also for contributing to the society's welfare. There is evidence that implies vulnerability of mental health problems in university context. Many studies reveal high rates of stress and depression among university students worldwide. There are unique stress inducers in University life such as changes in environment, budding peer relationships, academic stress, financial management, and lack or poor social support network. It is increasingly recognized that these common stress inducers or stressors may have harmful consequences on the mental or physical health of students. Enormous academic, psychosocial and financial challenges were experienced by university students in the university environment as reported by number of studies . Academic stress mostly caused by intensive academic workloads is associated with depression. The perception of not having enough time to widen knowledge base required, studying for examinations for grade rivalry and mastery of a huge amount of study syllabus information in little time period all these lead to academic stress. This depression can affect students' academic performance such as lack of focusing in class and lower grades. Suicidal tendency is also on the increase among university students. Suicides among students are mostly associated with fear of academic failure or under achievement