On October 23, Beijing Youth Daily spoke to students
and college officials about the dilemma faced by having to charge
for the use of sports facilities at weekends but wanting to
maintain access for young people at university.
Its report said many students use colleges' outdoor basketball,
table tennis and badminton courts at weekends, whilst indoor
facilities are dominated by employees from outside the
university.
Students were quoted by the paper as saying that charges for
university gyms and sports fields were too high, while facility
staff said insufficient charges could not maintain their
operations.
"A refereed 105-minute football match on grass costs 1,300 yuan
(US$160), 1,200 yuan without referees and 900 yuan on artificial
grass. Prices are fixed by the university, and revenue is used to
maintain the pitch and pay staff," a university sports department
source told Beijing Youth Daily.
"The grass pitch can only be used for free by the college
football team and for annual matches organized by the university.
Most of time, it is rented by employees from outside the
university," he said. "Students rarely rent the pitch because they
cannot afford it. However, the prices are much lower than those at
the Workers Gymnasium and Olympic Sport Center Stadium."
According to the report, prices for indoor table tennis and
badminton courts were 10 yuan (US$1.2) and 25 yuan per hour
respectively, with no discounts for students.
Students playing football on a small outdoor pitch said,
"Although here is simple and crude, it's free. You only need to
show your student card."
At another well-known university visited by the reporter, 3 or 4
groups of students queued to use outdoor basketball courts while
others watched and played football on a hard pitch, all for
free.
This was in contrast to the indoor gym, which one student said
was "only free to us when we have physical training classes from 8
to 10 in the morning. Otherwise, it is leased to companies from
outside. We cannot afford 400 yuan (US$49) to rent a basketball or
volleyball court. Even badminton courts cost 10 to 30 yuan per
hour."
One university principal told Beijing Youth Daily it
was necessary for them to build such facilities since, apart from
regular physical training, larger recreational activities could be
held here. But if they opened free to students, overheads could not
be covered.
Beijing Sports Bureau regulations issued in 2000 said colleges
could open their sports facilities to the public and charge for
their use, reinforced by a notice published in July 2003.
"If college facilities function as a public service, they must
be free to students, if we consider them an industry, then charges
are inevitable," said Yi Jiandong, associate head of Beijing Sport
University's Sports Journalism Department. "However, charges give
no cause for criticism because evening or weekend work is extra for
staff, and they need to be paid."
A Peking University teacher
said the university commissioned Kang Mei Le Trim and Fitness
Association to manage one floor of its Science No.1 building in
2003, which previously only had some table tennis tables and basic
exercise equipment.
Kang Mei Le invested 4 million yuan (US$493,827) in refurbishing
the building and buying fitness equipment, and billiard and table
tennis tables, after which fitness, billiards, hip hop dance, Latin
dance, taekwando and yoga courses became available.
"The price here is about a third lower than places outside the
university. Monthly and yearly cards for non-students are 400 yuan
(US$49) and 1,800 yuan respectively, and for students they cost 200
yuan and 1,080 yuan," said the association's vice-manager Wang
Boyang. "At present, 90 percent of visitors are students."
(China.org.cn by Zhang Yunxing October 30, 2005)