A UNIVERSITY has changed its procedure following the death of an Andover student who found out he had failed his second year via email.

Alex Hayter, 21, was found dead on September 21, 2020. An inquest into his death on Tuesday found he took his life six days after learning he had failed his second academic year at Nottingham Trent University.

Speaking at an inquest into his death held at Winchester Crown Court on Tuesday, Professor Mary O'Neil, executive dean for the school of science and technology, expressed her condolences to his family and said lessons would be learnt.

She said: "The whole team wants to learn. We understand how traumatic this is for you all. We want to learn the lessons and improve.

“I give you my heartfelt condolences, I myself have two sons so I can understand how heart breaking this is.”

The dean confirmed that their policy has changed since Alex's death and now students who fail will be contacted personally instead of email.

Whilst the university has implemented changes, student’s emergency contacts are only contacted in extreme cases. The professor said a student missing an exam would not automatically be a cause for concern.

Coroner Rhodes-Kemp acknowledged the university had ‘like many others has a lot of systems in place’ but questioned what it would take for their emergency contact policy to be triggered.