The vice-chancellor of Bristol University, where seven students have killed themselves in less than 18 months, has blamed social media and the cult of perfectionism for contributing to a global crisis in mental health among young people.

Speaking for the first time since the cluster of student suicides, Hugh Brady said Bristol was no different from any other institution in the higher education sector, which is grappling across the board with record referral rates to student counselling services.

Although the focus has fallen on Bristol after five students took their own lives in a single academic year – three within just weeks of each other – followed by a further two deaths, Brady said virtually every university has a number of suicides every year.

“At times you would think from the dialogue that this is a Bristol issue or indeed a UK issue and it’s not,” he told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.

“Unfortunately this is a global sectoral issue. If you look over the last five to eight years across the UK, but equally in Canada and the US, the number of students seeking help for and declaring mental health issues has almost tripled.”

Brady, who trained in medicine and has held academic posts in Dublin, Toronto and Boston, added: “I’ve worked in different institutions and I know that in virtually all universities there are a number of suicides every year.

“It’s always difficult. When you have five [in one academic year] it is tragic and it is a serious cause for concern, but we should be aware that virtually all universities are concerned about suicide rates, but even more so the attempted suicide rates underneath it, and even more so the huge increase in referrals to counselling services within our universities. That’s common to all the universities, so something has changed.”

Brady, who became vice-chancellor in 2015, was speaking ahead of the launch of a new model of pastoral care at the university, which has been drawn up to address the growing mental health needs of students.

He said one of the reasons for the increase in the number of referrals for counselling was undoubtedly increased awareness among young people. “Students are more willing to talk about it – that has changed,” he said.

“There has been a suggestion that student debt is playing into it,” he said, also flagging up the uncertainty of the world for young people, with political turmoil home and abroad and global warming.

“But I think where there is probably general agreement is that the burden of social media may well be the straw that has broken the camel’s back and particularly this issue of what some people refer to as perfectionism.”

Brady, who has 22-year-old triplets who are students, said he could see what his own children gained from social media, but he also understood the pressures. “It’s not OK to have a bad day. In the world of social media you have to look like you’re happy even when you are not.”

He said the university would be talking to the student body about exploring the potential benefits of a “detox from social media, in the way we’ve detoxed in the past from substances”.

The new pastoral care model will be rolled out in September. The university was forced to make changes to its original proposal to reduce the live-in support in halls of residence after an outcry from students and staff who were upset to discover a new streamlined version that would result in savings of £800,000.

The revised version has restored the same number of live-in mentors and has added a new tier of professional support with full-time trained staff in three “student support centres” in the three main groupings of residential halls, available around the clock, 365 days a year.

The university is also investing an additional £1m annually in wellbeing support workers in every academic faculty who can support students and spot early signs of distress. Overall the revised student welfare model will cost £2.9m - currently it costs £2.6m.

Campaigners at the university don’t want to lose the current system of live-in wardens and deputy wardens in halls, who are often senior academic figures in the university. Under the banner “Keep Our Communities”, they accused the vice-chancellor of underestimating the current role of the wardens and deputy wardens in supporting students and building communities.

But Brady is determined to modernise to meet modern needs - keeping the best of the old system while adding a new professional tier. He hopes Bristol’s “whole institutional” model of pastoral care will be one that others in the sector can learn from.

“In my view when you see the scale of the mental health wave facing us and other universities the last thing you want to do is to continue to throw money at the existing model.

“Across the sector people are concerned, confused, or even shocked by the numbers coming forward to counselling services. Our trend is the same as the sectoral trend – a trebling in referrals since 2006.

“As a medic, if you have a trend like that you need to take a cold hard look at the way you are doing your business.”

• Contact the Samaritans for free from any telephone on 116 123. You can call even if you don’t have credit on your mobile, and the number won’t show up on phone bills. Or you can email jo@samaritans.org or go to www.samaritans.org to find details of your nearest branch, where you can talk to one of our trained volunteers face to face.

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org