Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, Bill Rammell, opened the MUGA in front of excited students and staff at the Bedford campus.

He said: “It is such a pleasure to be here with you today to mark the opening of our brand new Multi-Use Games Area.

“In the last few years, we have really focussed on enhancing the experiences of everyone at our campuses – our students and also our staff. I believe that this area will be extremely valued by all as a space to really come together, to work as a team and to develop new skills.

“At this university, we believe in making opportunities available to help people transform their lives. Active, healthy bodies feed active healthy minds, and so we invest in our sporting facilities to enable our students to be the best that they can be.”

Stephen Pitt, Head of Sport Partnerships at the University of Bedfordshire, said: “The MUGA will provide a space for students at the University to take part in a wide range of activities, and help to encourage an active lifestyle on campus.

“We are extremely pleased to have opened this games area and we will continue to enhance sporting opportunities for our students and the University as a whole.”

The #Active Campus campaign is a symbol of Bedfordshire’s wider project to encourage activity on campus. The initiative has introduced treadmill desks, sit-stand workstations and height adjustable desks across the University’s Bedford and Luton campuses.

Vice Chancellor Bill Rammell said: “I think this is a fantastic example of the importance of the project. We all spend a lot of time at work sitting down – in meetings, at our computer, writing at our desks… This isn’t really good for our bodies.”

“Replacing sitting with standing or walking improves health by lowering blood sugar, blood pressure, body fat… and it also improves mental wellbeing. The best available evidence also shows that being more active is good for your performance at work – improving productivity, memory and creativity.”

Dr Daniel Bailey, Senior Lecturer in Health, Nutrition and Exercise at the University, headed the #Active Campus initiative. He said: “This campaign is important because it’s shown that sitting down for long periods across the day, over weeks and months, is bad for your health. It can increase the risk of certain diseases, cancers and increase the risk of poor mental health as well.

“We wanted to give staff and students the opportunity to reduce their sitting time and become more active whilst they're on campus.”