Student support services management/Sports and leisure services management, University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

Student support services management

Sports and leisure services management

Faculty

Senate

Court

University of Glasgow Students' Representative Council 1885 to date

Department of Physical Education c 1949-1977

Department of Physical Education and Recreation 1977-1987

Department of Physical Education and Sports Science 1987-1995

Sport and Recreation Service 1995 to date

There is evidence that students took part in a number of sports from the earliest days of the University although, at first, it seems that sports were allowed rather than actively encouraged. The statutes passed in 1532 included a regulation that students could not play any game, even if it was a lawful one, in the presence of the regents, without first obtaining their leave. A visitation of 1642 from the General Assembly declared that students were to be exercised in lawful games, such as 'gouffe, archarie, and the lyk' but that they were to abstain from 'carding, dicing' and other forbidden games. In 1761, the Faculty approved fencing as a sport suitable for undergraduates and in 1776, a fencing academy was set up in the College hall. In 1784 and for many years subsequently, there was a teacher of fencing in the College. The sports that students could take part in were still carefully regulated, however. The regulations of 1771 included a prohibition against playing billiards, and in November 1832, the Faculty laid down a prohibition against games in which the use of sticks or clubs were necessary. A few days before this, they had granted Monsieur Foucart, a teacher of gymnastics and fencing, the use of a room in the University for teaching fencing.

During the nineteenth century, sport had a growing role in the lives of the students. Before the move to Gilmorehill in 1870, students played games on a large area of open ground within the College grounds on the High Street. Games played here included football, hand-ball, shinty, leap-frog and the foot-race. In Gilmorehill, there was a recreation ground to the west of the new University building. Demands had been made, however, for better recreational facilities, reflecting a growing belief that some form of corporate life for students was essential. The Students' Representative Council, founded in 1885, devoted a great deal of time initially to fundraising for improved facilities and the students petitioned the senate to build a gymnasium beside the recreation ground. The gymnasium opened in 1872 and closed only in 1946 when it became the University workshop. At first, the only formal sports club was the University Rugby Club, which was set up in 1869 and became in 1873 a founder member of the Scottish Football Union. In 1877, an Association Football Club was formed. Glasgow University Athletic Club was formed in 1881 to promote all sorts of athletic exercise and within ten years it had rugby, tennis, golf, and cricket sections.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, new University buildings were constructed on the recreation ground. To replace it, new sports grounds were opened at Bankhead near Scotstounhill in 1906 and at Westerlands in Anniesland in 1912. After a public appeal and many fund-raising activities by students, the Westerlands grounds were extended in the early 1920s. A new athletic ground was opened at Garscadden in 1936. The Stevenson Building, providing a swimming pool and other indoor facilities, opened in 1960. Garscadden was sold in 1994 and the proceeds used for the improvement of the University's other outdoor sports facilities. In 1996 the University's playing fields with all-weather surfaces were relocated to the Garscube Estate, two miles west of Gilmorehill.

The University appointed a Director of Physical Training in about 1939. In 1949, the post was renamed Director of Physical Education. The responsibilities of the Physical Education Department included students' recreation and fitness training as well as sports training and coaching. In 1977, the Department ran a summer sports school for the first time. In the same year the Department was renamed Physical Education and Recreation. Its policy was to design programmes to attract as wide a cross-section of the University as possible to regular physical activity. In the 1984/1985 session, new courses in exercise studies and sports science were approved. In the 1985/1986 session, the Department had five roles: to provide a physical education and recreation programme; to administer and supervise facilities; to co-ordinate with the student body in the development of student sport; to teach undergraduate and graduate courses on physical education and recreation; and to conduct research. In October 1987, the University undertook a collaborative venture with Glasgow District Council to provide access for students to the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena. The University thereby gained the use of extra indoor sports and recreation facilities in addition to those it already had in the Stevenson Building. The new facilities enabled the University to expand its role in the development of student sport and in research. In 2004, the University was working towards opening new indoor facilities at Garscube to replace the facilities at the Kelvin Hall.

In November 1987 the Department was renamed Physical Education and Sports Science and became a department within the Faculty of Medicine. It retained all its previous responsibilities for overseeing the University's sport and recreation facilities and for providing courses, classes and fitness and recreation opportunities for the University, with the added responsibilities of teaching and research in sports science. These major developments were a reflection of the growing interest in the University in all aspects of recreation, sport and fitness and in the study of sport at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

In 1995, the Court resolved to separate the academic and service functions of the Department. From then on, all service functions were handled by the newly created Sport and Recreation Service while academic functions were retained by the newly named Department of Sports Science. The Sport and Recreation Service was part of the Staff and Student Support Division of the Central Administration Planning Unit. In 2004, the University's administration was reorganised and the Service became part of the Staff and Student Resources Division of Administrative, Information and Management Services.

Until 2002, all matters relating to sport and recreation fell within the remit of the Student Welfare Committee. From 2002, the Student Support and Development Committee, a joint committee of Court and Senate, replaced the Student Welfare Committee.

Faculty meeting minutes 1640-1669, 1701-1859 ref: GB 0248 GUA 26621, 26626, 26631-26632, 26634-26635, 26647-26650, 26690-26703
 

University meeting minutes 1730-1770 ref: GB 0248 GUA 26639-26644
 

Senate meeting minutes 1730 to date Ref: GB 0248 GUA SEN 1/1
 

Senate scroll minutes 1771-1839 Ref: GB 0248 GUA 74018
 

Senate meeting papers c 18th century-1998 Ref: GB 0248 GUA Senate papers
 

Court minutes 1860-1997 Ref: GB 0248 GUA C 1/1
 

Court papers 1861-1964 Ref: GB 0248 GUA C 1/4
 

Annual reports, minutes, accounts, subscription lists, posters and correspondence relating to Glasgow University Gymnasium 1870-1941 ref: GB 0248 GUA 2155-2200, 2418, 4007, 16218-16219, 24864-24872, 25222, 25286, 25629, 25634, 34410, 55771, 56547, 56680, 72724a, 77341-77345, 77349-77350, 77351
 

Indexes to Senate minutes 1873-1919 Ref: GB 0248 GUA SEN 1/2
 

Clerk of Senate's letter books 1876-1911 ref: GB 0248 GUA 17069-17098
 

Records of Students' Representative Council 1886 to date Ref: GB 0248 DC 157
 

Court letters (in and out) 1890-1973 ref: To be confirmed
 

Court agendas 1894-1925 Ref: GB 0248 GUA C 1/3
 

Senate out letter books 1913-1947 ref: GB 0248 GUA 58533-58571
 

New Gymnasium Committee meeting papers 1955-1960 ref: GB 0248 GUA 53516-53517
 

Title of function/activity taken from Elizabeth Parker's Function Activity Model (report compiled for JISC). Function and activity description compiled according to GASHE's Standard for Creating Function and Activity Descriptions.