The tragedy of a college student who ended her life because she received an erroneous email from Cardiff University, has sparked her parents to launch a campaign to get better care for students.

It all started when 21-year-old Mared Foulkes, from Wales, received an email from the university informing her that she had failed an exam and therefore would not be able to continue in her third year of studying pharmacy.

The email stated that the 21-year-old had failed with a score of 39%. Unfortunately, the email was misworded as Mared had written 62% and had actually passed. Unable to cope with failing the exam, the 21-year-old committed suicide, according to the Daily Mail. Her mother complains the email was automated.

Cardiff University has apologised to the parents, Iona and Glyngwyn Foulkes and promised to simplify the process of announcing grades. However, the parents of the slain 21-year-old insist not enough has been done and are calling on universities to take action to prevent misunderstandings that may lead students to the misguided act from happening again.

“He thought he had failed”

Mared from Menai Bridge in Wales was found dead on July 8, 2020, after taking the death plunge from Britannia Bridge. “She was conscientious and went to university to succeed,” her mother says.

On the day she received the email, “she thought she had failed and would not be able to return to Cardiff”.

Nine months before she was driven to the desperate act, the 21-year-old had visited a mental health support service but had not spoken to her parents, who found out after her death.

The deputy coroner for north-west Wales, Katie Sutherland, said the way Cardiff University released the results was “complex”.

100 students killed every year

“They lost a student, but I lost a very, very sweet girl. I have to walk past her grave every day, do they (Cardiff University) have to do that?”

Mared’s family are now involved in the For 100 campaign which is for families calling for better care for students from their universities.

“100” represents the number of students who commit suicide each year in the UK.