Academic success alone is not enough. Discover why resilience, wellbeing, and emotional intelligence are key to thriving at university.
For many expatriate families in Indonesia, the university journey begins long before graduation day. Conversations about predicted grades, SAT scores, Oxbridge applications, Ivy League pathways, and competitive admissions often dominate the teenage years. Academic excellence matters, of course, it does. But increasingly, global research is revealing a truth many parents are only beginning to understand.
Students most likely to thrive at university are not simply the ones with the highest grades. They are the ones who are emotionally resilient, socially connected, psychologically prepared, and capable of managing the very real pressures of independent life.
This is especially important for international students. Many young people educated in Indonesia leave home at 18 to study abroad in the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), Australia, Europe, or Asia. For the first time, they are navigating adulthood without the close support systems they have always known: family, domestic help, school structures, and familiar communities.
And the reality can be confronting.
According to the Harvard-led World Mental Health International College Student Initiative, the transition to university coincides with one of the most vulnerable periods in a young person’s life for developing anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties.
Research consistently shows that emotional intelligence, resilience, and social belonging are among the strongest predictors of university adjustment and persistence. In other words, students who can regulate emotions, build relationships, ask for help, and recover from setbacks are far more likely to succeed than students relying on academic ability alone.
The hidden crisis behind university admissions
Globally, more students than ever are entering prestigious universities. Yet universities themselves are sounding the alarm about deteriorating student wellbeing.
Studies from the UK highlight that first-year students are among the most vulnerable groups, facing intense stress linked to transition, loneliness, academic pressure, and identity change. University College London (UCL), one of the UK’s leading universities, has publicly invested in a ‘whole university approach’ to mental health because student wellbeing has become such a critical issue.
Research also shows that emotional intelligence acts as a protective factor against academic burnout and dropout.
In Indonesia, the conversation is becoming increasingly urgent. Recent studies examining Indonesian university students found rising levels of mental distress, emotional strain, and psychosocial challenges among undergraduates. Another international study found that while Indonesian students studying abroad generally value their experience, mental health support remains one of the greatest unmet needs.
The message is clear: gaining entry into university is no longer the finish line. Staying well once students arrive there may be the bigger challenge.
Preparing students for life, not just applications
At the British School Jakarta (BSJ), this understanding has fundamentally shaped how wellbeing is approached.
Rather than treating wellbeing as an ‘add-on’, BSJ has embedded wellbeing through a systems-based approach that explicitly prioritises emotional resilience, belonging, self-awareness, and psychological preparedness alongside academic achievement throughout the students’ whole journey of education.
Recently, one of our passionate Year 13 students, Nara, and I addressed the Year 13 cohort in one of their final assemblies before graduation, focusing entirely on the realities of university wellbeing and mental health.
The presentation challenged many common assumptions students hold about university life. Students explored research showing that:
- More than 60% of university students report experiencing overwhelming anxiety;
- Around 30–40% experience symptoms of depression during university;
- First-year students are often among the most stressed groups because of transition, loneliness, and academic pressure;
- Sleep deprivation is one of the biggest predictors of mental health struggles among students.
The assembly was designed to enhance the learning they have already experienced in their time at BSJ and normalise conversations around wellbeing whilst continuing to equip them with practical awareness before they leave home.
That proactive mindset matters enormously.
Students who struggle at university are often not lacking intelligence; instead, they are lacking preparation for the emotional realities of independence, such as coping with failure for the first time, building new friendships, managing loneliness, navigating identity, balancing freedom and responsibility, asking for help, and maintaining healthy routines without parental oversight.
These are wellbeing skills, not academic outcomes, yet they are increasingly determining whether students thrive.
This article was written by Andrea Downie, the Head of Wellbeing at British School Jakarta and the Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne.