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Sport England is to help universities encourage more students to play sport, thanks to £15 million of National Lottery funding.

The £15 million University Sport Activation Fund recognises the key role that universities play in creating a sporting habit for life amongst students. Currently around half (52 per cent) of higher education students take part in sport at least once a week. The fund will support projects designed to increase this number by trialling new methods of getting students into sport, particularly those that do not currently play any sport. It will also help tackle the issue of many young people giving up sport in their late teens and early twenties.

Sport England Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “Through our previous Active Universities programme we have built up a bank of expertise about how to motivate more students to play sport. This extra funding will enable universities to put this knowledge to work. We want to see clever, sustainable programmes that will inspire students to develop a lifelong sporting habit.”

Karen Rothery, Chief Executive of BUCS, said: ‘At British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) we are delighted with this announcement and our on-going partnership with Sport England which supports the delivery of their strategy whilst also actively helping us in our vision to enhance the student experience through sport. This £15m investment into university sport is a testament to those BUCS member institutions which received funding through Active Universities and have so far substantially over-delivered against their national participation target.

“We know through recent research commissioned by BUCS that employers, graduates and University Vice Chancellors all recognise the significant value that sport contributes towards graduate employment and long term employability. This further investment by Sport England coupled with BUCS expert support will make these benefits accessible to more students than ever.”

Successful projects will build on findings from Sport England’s £8 million three year ‘Active Universities’ programme which tested different methods of engaging students in sport. 102,000 students benefited from the programme – which involved 50 universities - leading to a shift in the number of students taking part in sport.

The most effective projects were those built around direct feedback from students, who wanted a more flexible sports offering, often away from sports halls and at more convenient locations and times. The benefits of more students playing sport, such as increased health, concentration and employability, also led to greater support and engagement from other areas of the university. These insights will help other universities to develop more sustainable programmes in the future.

Those interested in applying to the fund can take part in one of four pre-application workshops which will take place in January. To register for an event, visit www.sportengland.org/funding/our-different-funds/university-sport-activation-fund/. Further information about the fund will be available from 6 January and applications to the fund open on 6 January 2014 and close on 24 March 2014. 

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