Physical activity boosts wellbeing, social inclusion, attainment and employability. Vince Mayne from the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) calls for Higher Education to provide more opportunities for students to get active

“Mens sana incorpore sano” – a healthy mind in a healthy body is a well-worn and hackneyed phrase but one that couldn’t be more true given the results of the British Active Students Survey. According to the 2017-18 report – the biggest of its kind to date, with 6,891 students responding from 104 Higher Education (HE) institutes across the UK – students who are more active through playing sport or using the gym (or even better, by doing both!) have better scores on a host of measures, including better mental wellbeing, perceptions of attainment and employability, and social isolation.

With 2.4 million students at university across the UK, these HE environments can play a key role in encouraging and educating their students to meet the recommended levels of physical activity. This support will shape their activity habits for later life, helping to reduce adulthood inactivity, alongside associated benefits such as reduced access to primary healthcare, better mental wellbeing and improved long-term employability. Evidence from Sport England’s Active People Surveys also shows that those who attend HE have greater lifelong participation levels than those who don’t attend university.

Starting university is, of course, a key transition for many people and can also carry its own specific challenges, such as managing one’s own finances, cooking and cleaning. These are new experiences for some young people. On top of this, many students may also be away from their traditional support networks of family, friends, teachers or team-mates for the first time – and this can have serious impacts on their ability to cope and consequently their overall sense of wellbeing. This is even more reason for students to improve their wellbeing and feelings of inclusion by playing sport and/or using a gym.

What the surveys say
The Scottish Active Students Survey (SASS) and subsequent British Active Students Survey (BASS) provide strong evidence of the real benefits reaped by physically active students, particularly by participating in sport and going to the gym.

Personal wellbeing
Promotion of regular physical activity and participation in sport or gym memberships improves the personal wellbeing of students. The highest personal wellbeing scores were found for those classified as being active or taking part in both sport and attending a gym. Combining sport and gym produced higher personal wellbeing scores than either in isolation. Providing both options increased the opportunity of better personal wellbeing compared with doing neither.

Mental wellbeing
This is one of the most serious challenges facing universities across the UK, and in many other countries. Universities UK, the lead body for HE, has developed a framework for student wellbeing which includes an audit of what universities are doing to protect and promote good mental wellbeing (#stepchange). Critically, BASS has shown that there’s a key role for sport and physical activity in supporting good mental health among students, with the more active students showing higher (better) mental wellbeing scores.

Social isolation
In an increasingly online society, fear or experience of being socially isolated is a very real problem for many young people. Being a member of a gym or sports club has a positive impact on feelings of being isolated, as does higher levels of physical activity.

Attainment
Students’ views of their own ability to gain a good degree or get a job after graduating are essential aspects in building self-confidence and this often impacts on their drive to perform well in their academic work. Of those surveyed, 93.7 per cent anticipated gaining a 2:1 or 1st class degree.

Again, higher levels of physical activity correlated with more confidence in attaining a sound degree. Critically, those who were more active did not study any less than those who were less active, so it could also be speculated that active students have great time management skills too.

Employability
In 2013, British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) produced a report which showed through independent data that, on average, young people who go to university will earn more across their careers than those who do not. Although this is perhaps not surprising, the report also demonstrated that those who go to university and play sport will earn more than those who go to university but don’t play sport, by around 18 per cent per year!

According to BASS, students who were physically active on a regular basis rated themselves higher on 8 out of the 10 employability skills measured, with teamwork and drive scoring highest, in addition to the personal skills of communication, leadership and self-promotion.

BUCS is one step ahead
As the lead body for sport and physical activity in HE, BUCS aims to deliver “the best university sports experience in the world” and drive higher levels of active participation at its 160-member institutions.
This year BUCS celebrates 100 years of inter-university competition, since its first athletics competition at the University of Manchester, and aims to ensure its relevance in the ever-changing HE environment. So, although its competition programme remains core, focus is shifting towards enhancing student wellbeing and promoting the value of sport in a wider context within a tightening financial environment.

In terms of performance, BUCS’s Super Rugby programme features the top 10 teams UK-wide in a weekly league format and sends successful teams to the Summer and Winter University Games; the Summer Games is the second largest multi-sport event in the world after the Olympics.

Investment across the sector via sports scholarships and support services of strength and conditioning, sports science, physio and sports therapy are also considerable, providing a pathway for dual-careers as student-athletes, leading to Commonwealth and Olympic success for many (67 per cent of Team GB medals were from current or former HE students).

Within its competition programme, BUCS delivers the largest annual multi-sports event in the UK at its BUCS Nationals event. It also hosts BUCS Big Wednesday – the culmination of the team sports competitive season with 52 finals on one day at one venue; in 2019 this is returning to the University of Nottingham. BUCS has also hosted the largest surfing competition and student rowing regatta in Europe, as well as para-sport events in swimming, athletics and wheelchair tennis.

BUCS also has one of the largest chains of independent fitness clubs in the UK and serves a significant number of members nationwide. Its free UNIversal Gym Card scheme gives full members at participating universities complementary use of fitness facilities at other members’ clubs to promote year-round physical activity. So students returning to their parental home in a different location during vacations and university staff travelling around the UK can remain active at no additional cost.

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Vince Mayne from BUCS reports on the importance of Higher Education influencing students to get active and boost their mental wellbeing and perceptions of attainment

Vince Mayne, CEO of British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS),Vince Mayne, British Universities & Colleges Sport, University of Warwick, Kings College London, University of Nottingham, University of Birmingham Sport, wellbeing, social inclusion, attainment, employability, Physical activity