About Us

The voice of university sport...

British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the national governing body for higher education sport in the UK. Its vision is to enhance the student experience in three key areas:

Performance
Competition
Participation

To do this, BUCS works with student athletes, athletic union staff and elected officers as well as professional sporting staff, coaches and volunteers at its 157 member institutions. It offers a comprehensive, multi-sport competition structure and manages the development of services and facilities for participative, grass-roots sport and healthy campuses through to high-performance, elite athletes.

The BUCS sporting programme is available to the 2.3 million students across the UK. Over 100,000 students regularly compete in BUCS competitions, leagues and events. BUCS delivers 50 sports to these students and universities and organises 150 individual final or championship events each year.

The seasonal programme begins at the start of the academic year in October with the national Surfing Championships at Fistral Beach in Newquay; and continues until the following July with the final events including, cricket, shooting and a combined athletics event. Over 4000 teams compete in BUCS team sports and competitions each year and the finale for many is the BUCS Championships.

BUCS Objectives

In its first year, BUCS set the following objectives for the business:

Get more people to play sport and partake in physical activity
Improve the quality of experience for students and staff involved in sport
Create a sustainable future for sport at university
Maximise the potential of our membership and support professional career pathways
Deliver world-class athletes and infrastructures
Provide a national, respected voice for our members to government and relevant stakeholders

Governance

BUCS was formed in June 2008, following a merger between University College Sport (UCS) and British Universities Sports Association (BUSA).

Andy Burnham MP and David Lammy MP hosted the BUCS official launch on 31 October 2008 at the Houses of Parliament. At the launch BUCS produced an overview of its strategy, this is available here.

You can also watch the launch videos from the evening here

BUCS is led by its Chief Executive, Karen Rothery and its Chair, Ed Smith. Further details about the Board can be found here.

In 2009, BUCS restructed its advisory and executive committees to provide a better feedback and consultative service to the membership. More on the new Advisory Group and elected representatives can be found here

Why get involved
Participation in sport at higher education institutions is already impressive:

One in four students take part in regular physical activity
4000 sports teams operate on campus, with the highest participation in rugby, football and hockey
41% of university sports teams are female
150 weekend sporting events take place each year
36% of the student population is physically active in comparison to 21% of the general population (Sport England, Active People)
58% of the GB Team competing in Beijing 2008 came through the higher education system
67% of visits to university sporting facilities are from students, with 26% from community users and 8% from staff (NASS Survey 07/08)
BUCS members operate approx. £20bn worth of sporting facilities and amenities, including 145 fitness suites, 541 tennis courts and 139 sports halls
In 2009, the BUCS Championships generated £589,000 worth of economic impact and £190,000 of media value.

Want to know more?

BUCS HQ is based in Southwark, London with regional bases in the North East, North West and South West of England. You can contact us on info@bucs.org.uk or 020 7633 5080. Or find the most relevant person on our contacts page.

Where has BUCS come from?

February 1918
The Presidents of University Unions conference in Manchester calls for the need to establish an ‘association’ to promote the development of sport at university

28 July 1919
The Inter-Varsity Board of England and Wales holds its first inter-varsity meeting consisting of nine universities

1922
Association Football, Hockey, Rugby Union and Swimming are added to the events programme

November 1923
The Women’s Inter-Varsity Board (WIVAB) is created to cater for the needs of women students

1927
The University of London provide accommodation for the association’s headquarters

1930
The Universities Athletic Union is established. The following year it appoints its first secretary, Captain Evan A Hunter

1940s
A compulsory course in Physical Recreation is established for all first year students at university. Informal gatherings of tutors, lecturers and staff begin to discuss the merits of forming an association to represent those responsible for organising physical education, recreation, sport and health for students took place over several years.

1953
The Inter-Varsity Athletic Board is formed to manage Britain’s student representation at an international level.

1960
The Universities Physical Education Association (UPEA) is formed to represent staff responsible for sport at university.

1962
The British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) replaces the Inter-Varsity Athletic Board. Membership of BUSF is open to all universities in the UK and University Colleges of Wales. The Scottish Universities Sports Federation, the University of Wales Athletic Union and the Northern Ireland Universities Sports Committee are corporate members. During this time, colleges and polytechnics are catered for by the British Colleges Sports Association and the British Polytechnic Sports Association

1972
UPEA becomes British Universities Physical Education Association (BUPEA) at a conference at the University of Kent.

1979
Men’s and women’s sport (WIVAB) in England and Wales come together under one organisation, Universities Athletic Union (UAU)

1993
BUEPA merges with the Association of Polytechnic Physical Education Lecturers (APPEL) to become British Universities and Colleges Physical Education Association (BUCPEA)

November 1994
With the removal of the binary divide in higher education in 1992, a new single organisation is needed to represent the sporting interests of students. UAU and BUSF merge to create British Universities Sports Association (BUSA)

2000
BUCPEA is renamed as University and College Sport (UCS)

June 2005
Scottish Universities Sport (SUS) is established to ensure quality and breadth in well-managed sporting programmes, increasing and promoting involvement in physical activity, and aiding and supporting the development of appropriate professional structures and systems throughout sport in higher education in Scotland.

January 2006
A symposium, held in Coventry, agrees to investigate how the experience and expertise of BUSA and UCS can be brought together to create a new body for sport on campus

13 June 2008
British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is incorporated as the new, national voice for university sport.

BUCS Parliamentary Reception Programme October 2008 (1.46MB)