UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
SPORT AND WELLNESS FULL DUAL ASSURANCE
TED WRAGG, NORTHCOTE HOUSE
15.30 Wednesday 3rd April 2013
Attendees:
Mr Geoff Pringle – Director of Campus Services (Chair)
Mr Phil Attwell – Director of Sport
Mr Jo Batten – Athletic Union President
Mr Nicholas Bull – Lay Member of Council
Mr Simon Court –Sport and Recreation Manager (Cornwall)
Ms Kasia Drinkwater – FXU VP Academic Participation (Cornwall)
Ms Laura Hames – Finance Officer and Deputy Head of Academic Support (Cornwall)
Ms Niamh Lamond – CEO FXPlus (Cornwall)
Ms Hanna Royle - FXU Activities Manager (Cornwall)
In attendance:
Ms Alex Powell – Incoming Athletic Union President
Ms Abi Wooding (Notes)
Apologies:
Professor Neil Armstrong
0.1
Mr Pringle WELCOMED the group to the meeting and INTRODUCED the members visiting
from Cornwall.
1.0
Mr Pringle INVITED any comments on the minutes of the previous meeting held on 10th
October 2012.
1.1
Minute 1.3: Mr Attwell NOTED that he will be meeting with Simon Wright in June to talk
about the approach to timetabling and the next academic year. He also noted that this year
sports membership numbers are up to 6,617 members – an increase of 500 compared with
last year’s memberships.
1.2
Minute 3.7: Mr Bull ENQUIRED as to whether there were there are any Exeter alumni
sporting teams which could be supported by Exeter. This would not be given a high priority
at this stage but may be an avenue for subsequent exploration.
1.3
Mr Attwell NOTED that alumni focused events surrounding rugby and hockey will be taking
place in the Autumn in conjunction with Durham where alumni from both Exeter and Durham
will meet and watch matches taking place between Exeter and Durham’s current teams. It is
hoped that conversations will take place at this event surrounding alumni support. There are
current plans to make the part time position of Alumni Officer for Sport a full time position.
1.4
Minutes 6.4 and 6.5: Mr Batten REPORTED that there had not been enough interest this
year from intramural teams for taking forward team photographs. However, the Athletic
Union are working to find dates for the next academic year for a photographer to take photos
of sports teams.
1.5
Mr Batten REPORTED on the finalised number of Athletic Union members. This year there
are over 5,800 members - an increase of approximately 500 from last year’s numbers.
1.6
Mr Attwell REPORTED a total of 6,600 students with paid sports memberships, 5800
students paid to be in Athletic Union clubs, and over 3000 students were involved in playing
intramural sports. It is hoped that it should be possible to calculate a definitive number/
percentage of the whole student population next year following a change in membership
structure
1.7
Mr Batten and Mr Attwell REPORTED on equality and diversity within sport and noted the
following key points:
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International students are being actively encouraged to take part in sport, especially during
international sport week and it is hoped that this will encourage international students to be
involved on sporting teams.
Feedback indicated a preference for recreational sport by international students as
opposed to club-based/ team-based sports. This year the focus is to encourage
engagement across all sports, not just club/ team-based sports.
Fee status and year of study are not categories into which the figures are broken down
currently, but this is something which can be calculated for future reports.
Surveys are provided to students for each sporting event in international sport month to
find out information about favoured sports, timings of events, popularity of larger one-off
events. As a result, this year the sporting budget will be used to schedule regular big oneoff events spread throughout the year, not just within sport month, to help maintain interest
and participation.
1.8
Mr Batten NOTED that committee training will be taking place in June. In previous years, this
committee training has taken place in October, but a lot of the work experience opportunities
which would be relevant to this training usually takes place in August and over the summer.
The training is therefore being moved to June instead.
1.9
The group AGREED the minutes of 10th October 2012 meeting.
2.0
Mr Attwell REPORTED on sport performance and the capital programme, noting the
following key points:
• The first phase of the capital programme is now complete with the new hockey pavilion up
and running, although later than expected. Phase two is going well and the early signs are
very positive for the new facilities to be ready by early September.
• There will be a press opening on Thursday 12th September.. Completion date is currently
13th September, with the full opening taking place on 23rd September, which is at the
beginning of week One of the Autumn Term.
• Business development is progressing well and within the annual budget envelope.
• Exeter’s sporting performance has been excellent so far this year with more teams reaching
semi-finals than before and the Women’s Rugby Team being crowned BUCS National
Champions in March. Exeter rank 7th in the BUCS League Table currently and it is estimated
that Exeter will finish in 6th, 7th or 8th place.
• There has been a lot of focus on mitigating the effects of the capital builds projects to ensure
that there is as little disruption as possible to the students and staff. This particular project
which is taking place at the Sport Park is an £8.5 million investment, which is currently being
delivered at an impressive pace by Kier contractors.
• Discussions have taken place with the Athletic Union regarding charges for next year; better
facilities could mean higher fees but an agreement has been reached with the Athletic Union
over this. Mr Batten AGREED.
3.0
Mr Bull commented that this meeting was set to involve colleagues from Cornwall in order to
bring together the Sport agenda from across the University. The Sport Dual Assurance
meetings largely focus on Streatham, but it is key that we are aware of the Tremough
sporting agenda also.
3.1
The group DISCUSSED issues surrounding student satisfaction, sporting facilities and
opportunities across all campuses and Ms Royle REPORTED on the following key points:
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FXU students union has recently undergone a large restructure in terms of staff leading to
introduction of a Vice-President Participation role, two Sport and Recreation Coordinators
and one manager overseeing them. This has been a very positive step allowing staff to focus
on the student experience and sporting participation. There is a forum where a member from
every club and society can voice any concerns or issues. Facilities in Cornwall are for both
Exeter and Falmouth students.
There are 35 active sporting clubs this year, similar to last year. This year’s Fresher’s Fair
was focused on getting students involved and not necessarily about taking membership
fees. No fees were taken at the Fresher’s Fair to reduce the number of people paying for
memberships and not participating. The figures show a very similar level of participation to
previous years so the number of those with paid memberships and those participating is
much closer. A Re-Fresher’s fair also took place in the New Year to re-advertise sports clubs
and participation.
This year, there are 1,458 sports club members in Falmouth, which is very similar to
previous years. There are approximately 6,000 participating students from both institutions,
and the split between Exeter and Falmouth students participating in sport at the Tremough
Campus is roughly equal.
In terms of performance, great results were yielded at the BUCS Surf Championships, a
higher number and higher calibre of students applied for sport bursaries (slightly more
Falmouth students than Exeter).
There is now an increased level of encouragement towards friendly fixtures with other
Universities. As Wednesday afternoons are not set aside, as in Exeter, for sports activities it
is often difficult to schedule matches/ fixtures at convenient times. Therefore, there is more
participation in local leagues and teams than BUCS.
Tremough Student involvement in BUCS is difficult when Exeter and Falmouth teams
participate in the same team as points cannot be attributed to one institution.
Committee training is being encouraged this year as well as the Sports Volunteering
Scheme which will be launched next year. A Community Games Event is being launched to
encourage the community to visit campus and join in the activities.
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3.2
Mr Bull queried whether there were any possibilities for sporting photographs to be provided
for participating students when they graduate.
3.2.1 Ms Royle REPORTED that there had not enough interest for this when it had been
suggested previously.
3.2.2 ACTION: Ms Lamond, as part of FXPlus, to monitor and see what could be done to help
encourage sporting photographs – although to be FXU led.
3.3
Ms Lamond REPORTED that Falmouth now has full University status and as a result, its
branding and identity are being reworked. Once this has been established, a logo/ identity
for FXU which combines the two campuses would be beneficial in generating uniformity.
4.0
Mr Court REPORTED on the Tremough Campus Sports Centre as well sporting challenges
faced by Tremough and the following key points were noted:
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‘Tremough Campus Sports Centre’ is the new official name for the centre.
In 2012, membership numbers were at 2,166 members, 527 of which are external members.
There were 765 University of Exeter members of which 729 are student members, compared
with 730 Falmouth members of which 699 are students.
Finances for the sports facilities have yielded over £25,000 in profit – approximately £10,000
above what was planned.
Recent developments include an extension to the gym, extended opening hours at weekend
(07.30-21.0 Monday to Friday, introducing additional services such as sports massage and
physiotherapy for students and staff.
Changes have been made to the sports staffing structure, which now stands as follows;
Sports Manager, Deputy Sports Manager, three Duty Managers and three Sports
Attendants.
There is ongoing development of the Sports Strategy – termly management meetings take
place and also operational meetings to make sure there is a joint approach for facilities and
events.
There is also ongoing development of the sports feasibility report with Cornwall Council.
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5.0
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Niamh Lamond brought the group up to date with discussions underway with the local and
regional public sector about a collaborative approach to developing sports facilities in
Tremough.
A consultant had delivered the first draft of a feasibility report into what might be possible,
and this would be circulated once amendments had been incorporated into the report.
Comments were made about the difficulty of developing a new facility base unless there was
equal support from both institutions at Tremough. This topic would be discussed at
subsequent meetings.
Date of next meeting: October 2013 (to be confirmed.)