More than 70 universities from 29 countries are on track to be officially certified under the scheme following its launch in May 2020.

FISU believes that even more will take part as students return to campus this year following the coronavirus pandemic.

Eric Saintrond, the secretary general and chief executive of FISU, believes the programme is "unique".

"FISU does not only think about global events or structured sports within our membership, but also cares about improving physical and mental health, and sport practice is an essential dimension for student well-being on university campuses," he said.

"As per our Constitution, FISU's mission is to act for the health and well-being of all students - including students who do not participate in competitive sports."

FISU Healthy Campus helps to promote best practices and the universities involved benefit from being part of a worldwide knowledge-sharing network.

Seven different areas are covered - physical activity and sport, nutrition, disease prevention, mental and social health, risk behaviour, environment sustainability and social responsibility and healthy campus management.

Thirty global experts in student health are part of the project, to share their expertise. 

FISU said it would begin to publish examples of best practice to mark the one-year anniversary.

"The positive feedback we receive from the universities has been even higher than what we could have wished for, and this does reflect the great benefits of this programme - namely working towards the United Nations' sustainable development goals in an organised manner and in a variety of different fields," said Saintrond. 

"This has also developed better cohesion and coordination among all departments and services within universities as well.

"The registered universities, as of today 72 of them, are very enthusiastic.

"However, more than 200 meetings have already been held with others that will join the programme. 

"The expectation of growth is high, and universities always take some time to register after being aware of the programme, but we will soon see the impact of the work that has been done." 

The University of Turin was the pilot university for FISU Healthy Campus while the University Institute of Lisbon was the first to be certified in August.

Universities can achieve platinum, gold, silver or bronze certification depending on what criteria they meet.

"Not only are we impressed with the number of universities who are committed to the programme but the quality of the work done by the universities is extremely impressive," said Fernando Parente, the director of FISU Healthy Campus.

"The criteria necessary for certification have been very important for ensuring that universities are on track to achieving long term health and well-being on campus."