Drink levels go over top; SURVEY: Most students could be harming health.

Byline: Lucy Lynch

MORE than half the students at Coventry University are drinking at levels which could harm their health, a shocking survey has revealed.

Now more work is being done to try to tackle the binge drinking culture on campus. Members of Coventry's Community Safety Team - tasked with reducing alcohol abuse in the city - asked students at the university's freshers fair to fill in a National Health Service questionnaire about their drinking habits.

Of those that responded to the survey only 42 per cent of students were keeping their drinking to sensible levels, which is no more than two to three units a day for women and no more than three to four units a day for men.

Of the rest, 46 per cent were drinking at "hazardous" levels - likely to cause harm to health - and 12 per cent were drinking at "harmful" levels, at a level which is causing problems for themselves even if they haven't made the connection between their problems and their drinking.

There were 39 per cent who said they drink more than six units - equivalent to six vodkas or half of a bottle of wine - in one drinking session, and 56 per cent who said they drink more than two or three times a week.

Lesley Sigston, alcohol harm reduction co-ordinator for the team, said: "We will continue to work with Coventry University and the Student Union to raise awareness with students around these issues and will be jointly working on the next Detox event in November. We will also be helping at many student events with the aim of tackling the student binge drinking culture."

Coventry University's Student Union is trying tackle the problem by organising alcoholfree social events called Detox Acoustic Cafes.

Students drink fruit juices and there's a chocolate fountain for a sugar instead of alcohol related high.