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The World University Orienteering Championship took place last week and was particularly memorable for the outstanding result of New Zealand team member Tim Robertson who won the sprint gold medal. He was one of six NZ student-athletes competing in Kuortane, Finland.

The winners from Wellington are the same as 2017, with Auckland and Waikato reclaiming their men's and women's titles respectively, however, this year’s event had more of a competitive feel across the whole tournament. Read our review for reflections and results.

Whether they had five or 11 players on the field, the university teams involved in last week's National Tertiary Hockey Champs dug in and demonstrated their class.

For the first time, FISU are offering the Young Reporters Programme during the Winter Universiade. This will take place 2-12 March 2019 in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. One person will be selected from the Oceania region and applications close 31 July 2018.

The draw for the 2018 FISU World University Futsal Championship has been released. Here's the lowdown, with comments from the New Zealand men's tertiary futsal coach Marvin Eakins and women's coach Nic Downes who will be taking the teams to Kazakhstan in August.

In a month's time New Zealand will be represented in kumite and kata forms at the 2018 World University Karate Championships in Japan. The two tertiary students selected have a compelling background that highlights the commitment and vision needed to achieve in karate at this level.

Two days of tough badminton competition tested NZ universities' best, with the tournament favourites proving victorious, and some upset wins for underdogs along the way.

Volleyball NZ have named four students/graduates to make an impression at the Beach Volleyball World Uni Champs in six weeks' time. While the pairs have not played together before, individually they have significant international experience including on the Asian circuit, the World Tour, and in the NCAA championships in America.

University and Tertiary Sport NZ has signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council. The MoU strives to enable and deliver opportunities which will retain school leavers in sport and create sustainable sporting pathways between secondary schools and tertiary institutions.

FISU President Oleg Matytsin had a busy month in April. He attended both the SportAccord Convention and met with the IOC President to discuss progress against their 2016 MoU. We recap some of the topics covered.

On the back of strong showings nationally and internationally, three scullers from Massey University will make up the NZ team to contest the 2018 World University Rowing Champs in China this August. They can look to previous kiwi success stories as inspiration of what can be achieved.

A men's and a women's team of three have been named to represent New Zealand at the championships to be held in Kuortane, Finland from 17-21 July 2018.

It was three days of fast-paced, goal-hungry, nimble-footed, skill-savvy futsal players doing battle – the National University Futsal Championships sure did not disappoint.

Come August we will be eager to see how these top futsal student-athletes go up against their peers from 24 nations at the 2018 World University Championships in Kazakhstan.

Wishing to build on her success in futsal, Britneylee Nicholson had a few things to consider before deciding which university to attend. Such factors as scholarships, programme of study, distance learning, competitions and performance pathways all played a part in her final choice.

Ben Langton Burnell is one of the student-athletes representing New Zealand on the Gold Coast this week. The Massey University student will compete in the Commonwealth Games Javelin heats tomorrow. Before he flew out, we asked Ben how his 2017 World University Games experience prepared him for large multisport events such as these Games.

Among the delegation wearing NZ colours on the Gold Coast are a number of tertiary students and recent graduates. Angie Petty is one of them, having graduated from UC last December. She will compete in the Commonwealth Games 800m heats tomorrow. We approached Angie about her past involvement in the World University Games, to see how it has impacted her athletic career and prepared her for large multisport events such as these Games.

Fifteen university teams travelled to Christchurch for the third UTSNZ Tertiary 3x3 Championships. In a day of top-quality competition that saw no team go unbeaten, University of Auckland and Lincoln University eventually triumphed in the men's and women's championships respectively.

Lauren Jenner is passionate about rugby. After an injury ended her playing career, Lauren took up refereeing at the age of 16 and is now a top-class sevens and rugby referee. The AUT Marketing and Management student was named in New Zealand Rugby’s High-Performance Referee Wider Training Group in January and is currently in Hong Kong refereeing the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series Qualifiers from the 5-6 April.

Lincoln University’s Kristy Havill will represent New Zealand at the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Volunteer Leader’s Academy in Kazan in June.

Anna Wallace has been appointed as the new Marketing and Events Manager at University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ).