The delegation also took part in the Pacific-12 (Pac-12) conference between the best sporting universities on the US West Coast, with the visit made possible by an agreement between the two bodies promoting "collaboration".

The UniSport delegation spent a week in Southern California at the University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, USC Berkley and Stanford University among others, where they met with directors of sport and learnt about the university’s social sport as well as elite programmes.

University of Adelaide representative Thomas Sharpe explained the reason for the visit.

"At the University of Adelaide, we are currently doing research into more activations on campus for ‘time poor’ students that are easy and don’t need staff to monitor," he said.

Sharpe added: "In the US, it seemed they are already doing this as they have found more students don’t want to commit to competitions that take weeks for results but would rather just join in when available.

"These pop-up events don’t need significant numbers and people can come and go as they please.

"They are also strong in the idea of having staff be able to join in on activity.

"For us, having staff involved in pop-up activities, it doesn’t just help staff stay active, but it also gets our brand out without having to put in significant resources."

The Pac-12 summit also attracted delegates from China, Japan, South Korea and Canada as well as Australia, with all the delegations, UniSport say, able to learn about engaging through sport, "the global reach of US College sport", and the international student experience.