A fitter student body

Tsinghua University, renowned for its long sports traditions, encourages its students to "Be fit and work for the motherland for 50 years".

In 2014, Tsinghua prioritized sports in their orientation course for new students, and over 3,900 enrolled for the sports course last September.

Liu Bo, Tsinghua's head of sports science and physical education, says: "Every semester, students are required to learn one sport, join one sports club, and compete in at least one sports game."

But while Tsinghua has a long history of sporting achievements and excellence to fall back on, colleges without such a heritage sometimes struggle to convince their students of the benefits of an active lifestyle.

Professor Xu Jianbo, from Shandong University's School of Physical Education, believes that colleges could use big data to better prepare students for physical exercise, in addition to greater encouragement from the teaching staff.

"Sports clubs are the heart and soul of a university's sporting activities," says Xu.

"They play a great role in encouraging students to take part in physical activities, and the sports teachers and instructors could provide more advice."