I think the deceased student has some personal problems, and had
difficulty with his FYP. Cuz the news article says so, that there
were some difficulty in his FYP. Also, judging from the time now,
the FYP thesis is just going to be written (1st draft), thus what
probably has transpired is that the supervisor told him bluntly
that his FYP is not good enough and that he needs to retain another
semester, meaning that he cannot graduate with the rest of the
cohort.
Seeing that the supervisor holds so many positions, it is very
possible that he did not have time to supervise or mentor the
student or to help or guide the student much. Since "high-ranking"
Professors, normally will be very busy meeting people from overseas
and going overseas for conference etc. Some unhappy conversations
could have been exchanged.
The fact that the student has a knife (not sure if its a
stationery), means that the assault could be
premediated/preplanned. Meaning that the unhappiness could have
already been for some time, maybe around 1-2 months or more. The
fact that the student wants/intends to stab the Professor, means
that the Professor is somehow also partly responsible for this
event to happen, else the student could have stab other people, not
him.
Having made the un-returnable decision, the student realised
that he will not be able to get away from assaulting the Professor,
and he will definitely be black listed now and almost assured of a
sudden halt in his career, he feels that there is no way he can
make it in life, and being also remorseful, slit his wrist and
jumps.
If you read the paragraphs, this is ultimately a case study of
management issues.