What is University on the Move?

University on the Move 2020‒2022

Improved well-being and learning through physical activity

The Schools on the Move programme has taken lower education institutions by storm. Adaptations have been made to the practices and physical environments of the entire educational community in order to make engaging in both sweaty exercise and everyday physical activity easier.

Increasing students’ everyday physical activity is important, as not even demanding exercise is alone enough to compensate for the sedentary hours accumulated during the day.

The average university student sits for more than 10 hours a day. Prolonged sitting and other sedentary behaviour does not only make your body stiff, but also numbs the brain. Getting up and moving around while studying improves concentration and enhances memory functions, among other things, which results in better learning outcomes!

Now, OLL wants to get higher education institutions on the move as well! Our mission is to help increase physical activity within the entire higher education community.

Involving the entire higher education community in promoting everyday physical activity

Nearly every higher education institution already has its own sports service. In addition to the development of these sports services, action is needed from the entire higher education community: teachers, facility services personnel, rectors and students, just to name a few groups. When the higher education community pays proper attention to physical activity in its operations, the community may promote its members’:

• well-being
• sense of community
• studying and working capacity.

The potential of the University on the Move programme

This table of objectives for University on the Move activities provides an overall view of the entire University on the Move programme (the link leads to a PDF file). The table of objectives is in Finnish.

The contents of the table are based on the national recommendations for university sports, updated in 2018. The recommendations provide common guidelines for organising good and functional university sports in Finland.

You can read more about the recommendations on the Recommendations for university sports page.

What are your higher education institution’s hopes and wishes when it comes to increasing everyday physical activity?

Goals and measures will naturally emerge also from outside the table. If you have such new ideas, we would love to hear them and add them to the table.

Check out the sidebar for more interesting insights into University on the Move activities!