Sporting students The role and importance of sport in students' lives ...

The role and Sporting students
importance of sport in students’ lives
at the University of Debrecen
Klara Kovacs
I. PhD-student
Educational and Cultural Doctoral Programme
University of Debrecen
Kovacs.klarika87@gmail.com

Research topic and Method
• Sport and athletes at the University of Debrecen
• Campus-life Research (OTKA-81858)
• Center for Higher Education Research and
Development (CHERD)
• The impact of Tertiary Education on Regional
Development (TERD)

The problem and its relevance
• half of high school students, one-third of
university students, but only a quarter of young
people between 25-30 do sports regularly
• The university / college education is the last
chance for most of the students to submit
themselves to acquire the positive attitude
related to healthy lifestyle and regular sports,
before they get into the labor market

To introduce
Target
(1) the most important function of sport in the
society (and at University of Debrecen)
(2) the sporting habits of students
(3) the most important social-cultural
characteristics, which may affect that they do
sport or not
(4) whether there is a difference between athletes
and non-athletes in terms of number of friends

Definition of sports
• European Sport for All Charter:
„sports are every form of activities, which develop
the physical, mental performance and social
relationships. It can be done alone or in
community”
• Have you been a member of sport team/sport gym during
the course of studying at the university?

The social functions of sports
• 1. Health care, prevention, recreation
function
• 2. Cultural, value, moral function
• 3. Diplomatic, economic and infrastructural
function
• 4. Community creating and social function

The most important features of
Sports life of The University of
Debrecen
• The 10th § of university’s regulation sets out the
obligations of students in physical education.
• Department of Sport:
1. Short-term goal: to organize students’ compulsory
and extracurricular physical education once a week at
the university
2. Long-term goal: improving the students’ sate of
health and physical condition
• DEAC

Hypotheses
• 1. There is a difference between male and female
students in terms of proportion of sport.
• 2. The students’ relation to sport is affected by
the families’ social and cultural status.
• 3. The permanent residence impacts that a
student does sport or not at the university.
• 4. Students who take part in sports activities have
more friends than those who do not.

The results of the research
28,8%
6,6% Do/Did not sport activities
31,6%
33,0%
Sport activities w ithin the
university
Sport activities outside the
university
Sport activities w ithin and
outside the university
1.Figure: The percentage of students sporting preferences

100
80
60
40
20
75,2
64,3
Do sport activity
0
Men
Women
2. Figure: Sport willingness by gender

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
7,27 6,48
Average score of
families' finacial
situation
Do sport
activity
Do not sport
activity
3. Figure: Mean of the family's financial background of the athlete
and non-athlete students

100
80
60
40
20
63,8
51,7
66,1 67,4
72,7 72,1
Do sport activity (father
education level)
Do sport activity (mother
education level)
0
Primary
education level
Secondary
education level
Higher education
level
4. Figure: Percentage ratio of sporting students among the fathers’
and mothers’ education level groups

100%
80%
45,8
29,1
City
60%
40%
20%
0%
34,2
19,9
Do/did
sport
activity
37,8
33,1
Do
not/did
not sport
activity
Town
Village
5. Figure: Distribution of sporting students according to the extent of
settlement, in percentage

Do/
did
spor
t
acti
vity
Do/
did
not
Do/
did
can you
discuss
the
studyrelated
proble
ms
with?
How many friends
can
you
discu
ss the
priva
te
probl
ems
with?
can you
fill your
leisure
time
togethe
r?
can
you
discus
s your
plans
for
the
future
with?
would
visit/p
honed
you in
case of
illness
?
4,46 2,32 2,97 2,97 2,56
4,74 2,83 3,83 3,56 3,20
1.Table: the average number of friends in different dimensions of
friendship among the sporting and non-sporting students

Thank you!