The British Active Students Survey (BASS) aims to investigate and provide evidence of the association between students’ physical activity levels and the types of activity they are doing, with a range of factors including personal and mental wellbeing, social inclusion and loneliness, barriers and motivations to exercise and sport, and perceptions of academic attainment and employability.
BASS has evolved from inception in 2016/2017 and the undertaking of the Scottish Active Students Survey across Scottish Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). Following the successful implementation of the survey and positive impact of the findings, in the academic year of 2017/2018 the survey was expanded across British HEIs for BASS HE 2017/2018. The first investigation into Further Education students was undertaken in 2018/2019 with BASS: Further Education. The 2019/2020 academic year saw the BASS collect responses from both Further Educational Institutions (FEIs) and HEI students in the same survey for the first time.
Findings to date have shown that, generally, physically active students score better across the variables measured compared to fairly active or inactive students. Similar findings are also present in students who took part in sport and attended the gym, compared to students who did neither.
The 4 years of the BASS have seen collaborations between the ukactive Research Institute, Scottish Student Sport, BUCS, AoC Sport, Precor and Matrix Fitness.
2016/2017 – to view the Scottish Active Students Survey report, click here
2017/2018 – to view the BASS Higher Education report, click here and for the infographic click here
2018/2019 – to view the BASS Further Education report, click here
2019/2020 – to view the AoC report, click here and to view the BUCS report click here. To view the AoC infographic click here and to view the BUCS infographic, click here