University sport gets £10m funding boost

A campaign to get more university students playing sport will see a total of 54 universities share £10m worth of grant.

Sport England's University Sport Activation Fund aims to support projects which increase participation by trialling new methods of getting students into sport and offering a wider variety of opportunities and choice.

Projects that focus on those not currently playing sport have been prioritised to receive funds.

According to Sport England figures, 52 per cent of higher education students take part in sport at least once a week - a figure the grassroots organisation is keen to increase.

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.

"University sport can encourage students to continue playing once they've left - or help those less sporty discover a new sport. By investing in the 54 universities we're helping students develop a lifelong sporting habit while they study."

The grants range from £20,000 to £400,000, with the largest single investments being made in University of Bedford's Get Into Sport initiative (£401,820) and University of Essex's Just Play scheme (£364,187).

The smallest single grants were awarded to Kingston University for its High 5 for Sport campaign (£20,127) and the University of Greenwich and its Sport Activators programme (£48,882).

To download the full list of universities receiving funds (as a Microsoft Exel document), click here.

• The grants follow on from Sport England's three-year Active Universities programme which ran from 2011 to 2014. It delivered a 2 per cent rise in the number of students playing sport regularly at the 41 universities included in the scheme.