The German university sports federation starts nationwide project to promote physical activity among students with health insurance company Die Techniker
Germany is a leader in turning today’s sports stars into tomorrow’s leaders, as evidenced by promoting exercise at the country’s universities along with student-athletes like Timo Benitz (above), who won 1500m gold at the Taipei Summer Universiade 2017
From late night study sessions to tom foolery, the university days are a notorious period when health can lose priority to academics and exciting opportunities.
Fortunately for German students, the country’s university sport federation (adh) and the health insurance company Die Techniker have teamed up to promote healthy living at German universities. The nationwide campaign – called “Bewegt studieren – Studieren bewegt!” in the native language – seeks to make daily physical activity a part of everyday life for university students.
The German university sport federation and insurance company Die Techniker have teamed up to promote physical education throughout the country
There’s a message, and science, behind this mission. According to a recent Die Techniker study, three-quarters of university students feel stressed on a regular basis. As exercise is an ideal starting point to stable health, add and Die Techniker initiated their project with a physical education inspired kick-off event at the University of Kaiserslautern.
“Students who are active on a regular basis can strengthen their physical and psychosocial resources” said adh secretary general, Dr. Christoph Fischer. “We have asked our member universities to develop projects for a movement-oriented student-life.”
The “Bewegt studieren – Studieren bewegt!” campaign kicked off on the University of Kaiserslautern campus
The call to Germany’s campuses was successful: over 50 universities submitted project outlines. Of these, 32 projects were selected and funded with 15,000 euros each. The student-led projects don’t just have seed money, they are also supported with health experts from the insurance sector and adh staff.
We do not just want to finance the project, but we also want to help to implement the ideas and bring them to start,” said Dr. Brigitte Steinkie, a Die Techniker expert who specialises in healthy universities.
Thirty-two projects for promoting healthy universities were selected and funded with 15,000 euros – along with access to experts in the fields of health promotion
Want to know more about the whole initiative and the 32 projects that received funding and industry expertise? Check it out here at the allgemeiner deutscher hochschulsportverband.