Students, not normally considered the best example of healthy living, are blessed with £73m worth of sports facilities every year, two new reports revealed today.
University bosses met with ministers at the House of Commons yesterday to celebrate the launch of the two reports which show that universities are investing £73m in sports facilities every year.
The two reports, from the government's sport strategists, Sport England and the university representatives, Universities UK, also reveal that universities and colleges in England have 41 swimming pools (three are Olympic size), 284 grass pitches for summer use, 932 winter grass pitches, 145 fitness suites, 541 hard tennis courts, 74 grass tennis courts, 125 free weight areas, 296 squash courts and 139 sports halls.
Sports facilities in English higher education institutions receive more than 26 million visits per year, and are available for non-students to use approximately 70% of the time - by offering sports coaching, mentoring and classes to local schools.
Mandy Telford, the president of the National Union of Students, said that they had been campaigning to keep Wednesday afternoons free of lectures in order to allow students time to take advantage of the facilities. Wednesday afternoons have traditionally been lecture free, but with an increasing amount of students, some universities have been looking to book them up to allow for the expanding timetable.
She said: "The NUS has a long history of supporting sport in universities and runs a campaign to keep Wednesday afternoons free for sport. I am glad that there is widespread support for more students to get involved in sport at universities and I hope this will be reflected in our institutions by keeping Wednesdays free to allow all students the opportunity to participate."
Richard Caborn MP, minister for sport, who attended yesterday's launch, said: "I am very pleased to see so many illustrations of the ways in which higher education institutions are working to meet the ambitious agenda for sport, and in many cases reaching out to engage in their communities through sport and to provide vital support to elite athletes."
Professor Ivor Crewe, president of Universities UK, said: "As we are now in the European Year of Education through Sport, it is timely to have these useful snapshots of the way in which sport and higher education are engaging successfully across the UK.
"Universities UK hopes this encourages further partnerships at national, regional and local level for the benefit of higher education, sport and the country as a whole."
David Geldart, Sport England council member, said: "We welcome these reports and would like to congratulate the higher education institutions on their real commitment to giving students, staff and the community access to sport."
