32 | CAMPUS INSIGHT | CAMPUS SERVICES
“Universities are offering 'incentives' to undergraduates, to encourage them to sign on the proverbial doted line” F
or Team Bath, this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was a triumph. The University of
Bath’s sportsmen and women picked up a total of 27 medals, in pursuits as diverse as athletics and swimming, judo and weightlifting. In doing so, they fulfilled lifelong personal ambitions, gaining the ultimate reward for years of endeavour and sacrifice. But just as significant was the underlying message their achievements sent out: that having access to world-class sporting facilities can yield world-class results. In Bath’s case, those world-class
facilities are centred around a £30m Sports Training Village that’s equipped with an Olympic-size 50-metre pool, a high-tech gym, a 400-metre athletics track, three large sports halls, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, and even a bobsleigh push-start track – home to British Bobsleigh, no less. And while £30m is not a figure to be sniffed at, there can be no doubting that it represents a sound investment in the long term. As well as those medals and the kudos they’ve heaped upon the University, the Sports Training Village has made a huge difference to Bath students’ overall enjoyment of campus life. In the 2014 Times Education Student Experience Survey, which quizzed 14,300 UK students about all aspects of their college existence, Bath finished in second place overall out of 111 universities, scoring joint-highest with Loughborough University in the 'sports facilities' category.
Make no mistake, results like that turn
potential students’ heads. With British sport going through something of a purple patch in recent times – Team GB scoring a record number of gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics; Andy Murray taking the Wimbledon men’s singles crown in 2013; Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome conquering the Tour de France in 2012 and 2013 respectively – the British public’s imagination has been well and truly captured. And that includes people of a school-leaving age. For an increasing number of A-Level students, it’s no longer enough to find a university that offers the right academic course; opportunities to beter themselves in the sporting arena, or at the very least to keep themselves fit and healthy, are seen as equally important. Recognising this trend, some
universities are offering 'incentives' to undergraduates, to encourage them to sign on the proverbial doted line. According to a report in The Daily Mail, a university in the Home Counties is packaging up its courses with free membership of its sports club. For other institutions, it’s simply a case of “compete with the best and the students will come”. Take the University of Cambridge,
which is currently in the middle of a £22m redevelopment of its sporting facilities. The first phase of the new, state-of-the-art University Sports Centre was completed in August 2013, and centres around a large hall with line markings for korfball, volleyball, netball, basketball, badminton
and five-a-side football, as well as a trampoline rig, archery neting and tiered seating for 400 spectators for those all-important university matches! In addition to this, there’s a fitness suite full of cardiovascular and weights machines, a strength-and-conditioning room with eight Olympic lifting platforms, and a multi-purpose room for floor-based exercise and classes. The second phase of the project is now
under way, with the building of five glass- backed squash courts, due to be completed by the start of the 2014 Michaelmas term, and further facilities are due to be developed in the near future. “The sports centre is a long-overdue
addition to the University’s facilities, and has quickly become a hub for sport for the city at large, allowing University and city sportspeople to train and compete under one roof,” said Tony Lemons, Director of Physical Education. “We believe that sport is a hugely
important part of any student’s time at university, benefiting both their physical and mental health, and we’re extremely excited about the future as we continue to expand our facilities and give Cambridge the sports centre it deserves.” Elsewhere, the University of
Birmingham has splashed out on the building of a new £55m sports centre, due to open its doors in early 2016. The facility will encompass the city’s only 50-metre swimming pool, as well as a large multi- sport hall, a range of activity and fitness studios, an extensive gym (“one of the
Image courtesy of @camdiary
Pages 31 and 33: images courtesy of Elodie Giuge
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