University of East Anglia recieves £300,000 funding from Sport England’s University Sport Activation Fund and UEA to help get new students playing sport

Students at the University of East Anglia (UEA) will have more chances to play sport thanks to almost £300,000 of joint National Lottery funding from Sport England’s University Sport Activation Fund and UEA.

Norfolk, UK, 23-6-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — The university is one of 54 universities to benefit from nearly £10 million of funding to help get 180,000 new students playing sport.

The Department of Sport at UEA will be working alongside a number of key UEA divisions as well as the Student Union to engage with many more students by utilising the variety of facilities available on and off campus, offering different opportunities to get them more physically active during their time at UEA.

Phil Steele, director of sport, said: “I’m delighted that Sport England has awarded this funding, which will allow us to improve and deliver an extended student sport programme building on our existing strong provision for UEA students.

“This is the culmination of two years’ work in joining up our offering across the university’s sports programme with there being so much potential for development. The additional funding from UEA demonstrates how much the university management endorses the value of sport and physical activity for students and I thank them for showing their commitment to our project.”

Currently just over half (52 per cent) of higher education students take part in sport at least once a week. The funding will support projects to not only maintain this level of participation but also increase it by trialling new methods of getting students into sport and offering a wider variety of opportunities to keep them playing sport during their time at university. The projects will particularly concentrate on those that do not currently play. It will also help tackle the issue of many young people giving up sport in their late teens and early twenties.

Sport England director of community sport, Mike Diaper, said: “We know universities play a vital role in maintaining and growing a student’s love of sport. They can encourage them to continue playing once they’ve left school or help those less sporty discover a new sport. By investing in UEA we’re helping students develop a lifelong sporting habit while they study.”

Karen Rothery, chief executive of British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS), said: “Universities have really risen to the challenge to increase sport participation, firstly through Active Universities, and now through the University Sport Activation Fund.

“We at BUCS are delighted that our work with Sport England over the past five years has resulted in such a success story, and are confident that we will continue to enhance the student experience through sport in many creative ways throughout the life of the University Sport Activation Fund delivery.”

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