It is a phenomenon painfully familiar to anyone who has returned home for Christmas at the end of their first term at university only to be greeted by their friends with horrified – or amused – stares.

The first taste of the world of unlimited bargain-priced pints, kebabs, and chips and cheese (with lashings of mayo) often leads in only one direction: the delicately named Fat Fresher Syndrome. And as late nights, chocolate-fuelled essay crises and, eventually, exam pressures become the norm, student weight gain can often be a one-way street.

In the US – where the problem with new students is known as Freshers 15, in reference to the average of 15lb (6.8kg) that undergraduates generally put on during their first year – the authorities at one college have decided it's time to act. Lincoln University in Pennsylvania told its students that those who were classified as obese after a mandatory body mass index check had to take a class to teach them healthy living, and that anyone who refused would not get their degree. The university has since relaxed its stance and, although taking class is encouraged, it is no longer compulsory.

But America is not the only country with a growing obesity problem. Are the bulging waistlines of students a welfare issue in which higher education institutions in the UK should be intervening in a similar way?

The general consensus is that, despite their youthfulness, students are grown-ups, and must be treated as such. Universities have no legal duty of care to ensure they remain a healthy weight.

"We don't have that relationship with our students," said Les Ebdon, the chair of Universities UK's student experience policy committee. "They're adults, and they make their own life choices and decisions. But one does hope that because they're students and they have been taught to think in an evidence-based way, they will look at the evidence about obesity and think intelligently about their eating habits."

Nonetheless, universities should and do encourage healthier living, he says. At the University of Bedfordshire, where he is vice-chancellor, the canteen has swapped pies and chips for salad bars and other wholesome offerings.

"There's been a revolution in university refectories in recent years," Ebdon says. "Part of that is about the feminisation of higher education. Women are not into pie and chips."

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, agrees that universities must act. "American universities have an obesity problem which I doubt British institutions have yet got to, but that is not to say that they won't at some stage in the future," he says.

The problem lies in the natural disinclination of those of student age to work up a sweat. "It's hugely difficult to introduce young people in their late teens and early 20s to exercise," Fry says. "The best thing universities can do is set up gyms which appeal to a whole cross section of people. They need to include things like yoga, tai chi and Pilates, and make people feel comfortable, and not like they are being dragooned into exercising." Cookery lessons and specially produced recipe books showing students who may be catering for themselves for the first time how to prepare cheap, healthy meals would also help, he adds.

In fact, such steps are already being taken at a number of universities. At Bristol, a new programme entitled Fit & Fabulous aims to engage female students with self-defence classes and talks from elite sportswomen. While at Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge, where a team from the sports and wellbeing department goes out on campus to do on-the-spot "health MOTs", classes on offer include hula-hooping. After Christmas, a 12-week Slim and Trim programme will offer students who want to lose post-Christmas flab a weekly weigh-in, advice and support.

Loughborough has recently started running an informal healthy living and weight-loss club that is free of charge for students and staff. In its first semester, its members lost an average of 2.5kg each.

The university has also introduced an online food diary system, which allows students to track what they have eaten on campus, and see its exact calorific and nutritional value. About a third of students have signed up to the scheme, which has been running for over a year, and there are plans to automate the system so that purchases made through the students' payment cards are automatically logged online. For those who prefer to cook their own meals, Loughborough has developed a series of vodcasts to teach students how to buy and cook food.

Can a touch of class make all the difference when trying to tempt young people from their instant noodles and takeaways? Nottingham University's soon-to-be-launched campaign is supported by the city's Michelin-starred chef, Sat Bains, who will teach students how to cook specially devised tasty and economical meals.

Over at Lincoln, students are encouraged to go along to sessions in a local Italian restaurant, where chef Vito Cataffo, star of Channel 4's Dolce Vito: Dream Restaurant, shows them how to whip up soups, pasta, bruschetta and pollo grigliato (chicken stuffed with spring onions, garlic, rosemary and cherry tomatoes). "So many students simply don't know how to cook a basic meal using raw ingredients," he says. "They have never got around to doing this when living at home. They reach for tins, jars and packets of convenience food, and eat junk snacks whenever hunger strikes."

At Teesside the authorities are planning to develop a scheme where students can order fruit and vegetable boxes, collecting them from a local pick-up point each week, and at Sheffield those eating in the university's dining rooms are offered unlimited vegetables and potatoes for a set price.

Aside from concerns about obesity and ill health, many universities are also considering how healthy eating can improve learning. Several universities are accredited by the Food for the Brain scheme, which recognises catering that provides the right nutrients to fuel optimal brain function, including memory, concentration, mood and mental clarity. Leicester has talked to a nutritionist, who also interviewed students about their food, to find out how better eating could enhance academic performance.

And the signs from the students themselves are more encouraging than some might anticipate. Bournemouth University had to dismantle a "pie bar", selling deep fried pies and chips, due to a lack of sales, and at Anglia Ruskin a recent change to the use of the student union facilities tells an unexpected tale.

"Students have changed over the last decade," says the union's president, Matt East. "They're really looking after themselves a lot more and they're concentrating on their studies. They don't want to go out drinking all day. We found that we weren't making enough money in one of our bars, which was open in the day and served food. And we had students crying out for better exercise facilities."

And so it was that this autumn the student union – with the approval of its members – turned the bar into a gym.