The family of a college student who died by suicide in 2024 after his university mistakenly told him he would not be able to graduate due to his grades says they feel both “sickened” and vindicated after an external review found “systemic risks to quality and standards” at the University of Glasgow.
Ethan Brown, 23, studied geography at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and had been expected to complete his degree in the summer of 2024, the university previously confirmed.
In September 2024, however, the university later said it wrongly informed Brown that he did not have the required credits to graduate.
The family’s attorney, Aamer Anwar, said at a September 2025 press conference that Ethan’s mother, Tracy Scott, found her son in his bedroom on Dec. 13, 2024. According to the BBC, Dec. 13 was the day he would have been due to receive his degree.
Anwar said Ethan’s family contacted the University of Glasgow on Jan. 13, 2025, seeking answers, which led the university to conduct an internal investigation.
In a university statement previously shared, the school said it identified the error and commissioned an internal report by a recently retired senior professor, which was then shared with the family upon completion.
The university said the deputy vice chancellor and the report’s author met with the family’s representatives in early February 2025 to discuss the findings and offer an apology and condolences.
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The university also said a “tragic mistake” occurred in calculating Ethan’s degree outcome, adding that the error should have been caught during the exam board process. It also acknowledged shortcomings in communications with Ethan, including that he was not referred to Student Support Services after disclosing wellbeing concerns.
At the time, Anwar said Ethan should have graduated with honors and raised concerns about what the family described as a lack of professional and mental health support for students who are struggling. Anwar said Ethan had previously disclosed mental health difficulties but, the family alleges, no support was provided.
“The University of Glasgow, the family believe, failed Ethan, and believe he took his own life as a result,” Anwar said.
External agency cites potential “systemic risk” to academic standards
A report released Tuesday, Jan. 27, by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education found indications of a potential “systemic risk to academic standards” within the university’s processes, according to the BBC.
The findings were based on a review conducted from September to November 2025. Investigators said two other students in the university’s School of Geographical and Earth Sciences — where Ethan studied — were given “mistaken outcomes,” and that a further five cases required additional investigation before confirming whether errors occurred.
The report also noted that, among the university’s 23 schools, the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences was the only one identified by the institution as “high risk.”
The agency wrote that “Effectiveness is constrained by the convoluted Code of Assessment and a reliance on locally maintained calculation routes, both of which introduce variation and the possibility of error, further presenting a systemic risk to academic standards.”
The QAA said its Targeted Peer Review team issued 21 recommendations. These included additional institutional liaison meetings during academic years 2025–26 and 2026–27 to monitor progress, and scheduling the university’s next external peer review in academic year 2027–28.
In response, Anwar told The Daily Record that the investigation amounted to a “damning indictment” of systemic failures at the university. He also said Ethan’s family felt “sickened” by what they described as being “gaslighted” while the university publicly claimed there were no systemic failures.
Ethan’s mother said she believes the QAA report supports the family’s concerns about “the level of incompetence” at the university and that it places students at serious risk, The Scotsman reported. She also told the BBC: “We’re in shock but happy to know what we thought is true.”
University says it accepts recommendations and is implementing changes
In a statement issued Wednesday, Jan. 28, a University of Glasgow spokesperson said the university was “profoundly sorry” for Ethan’s death and expressed condolences to his family.
The spokesperson added that following an internal investigation into assessment regulations, the university self-referred to the Scottish Funding Council, and said it accepts the QAA Peer Review recommendations and the risks identified.
The university also said that since February 2025 it has worked to address issues raised in the internal investigation and will implement the QAA recommendations through a comprehensive plan building on existing change projects.
