Sport at Durham is a key aspect of student life with some 85% of students regularly taking part.The 50 university level sport clubs are organised by Team Durham with many being predominantly based at the Graham Sports Centre at Maiden Castle which has 26 courts and pitches for sports ranging from rugby to lacrosse to netball, additional facilities include eleven boat houses and two astroturfs a fitness studio and weights room. The university also owns The Racecourse which has a further eight courts and pitches for cricket, rugby (union and league), squash and football.

The University is recognised as a Centre of Cricketing Excellence (which is one of only six to play first-class matches) by the England and Wales Cricket Board and subsequently the Marylebone Cricket Club along with rowing and fencing also being recognised as centres of excellence. Durham also host the House of Sport which includes an English Institute of Sport hub site and being a British Olympic passport holder's site.

Durham was ranked joint 4th across all sports by the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) in 2008/9.It is also the current BUCS champion in rowing, which Durham has held for ten consecutive years.Durham University Boat Club also competes in Durham Regatta and the Northumbrian Water University Boat Race against Newcastle University, which it has only lost once in its 12 year history.

The Racecourse is one of the university's main sites for sporting facilities

Durham University is one of three universities to compete in the Durham - Oxbridge Tournament, a sporting competition between Durham University, the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

Palatinates are given to athletes who demonstrate a high standard (such as international representation) in their sport. It is similar to a blue awarded at other British universities. The award is named after the colour Palatine associated with the university.

There is a medical service.

Residential life

Durham students belong to a college for the duration of their time at the University. Most students live in their college for the first year of their undergraduate life, then choose to 'live-out' in their second year, and subsequently have the option of moving back into college for their final year, usually via a ballot system. The Colleges provide a key role in the pastoral care and social centre of students with each running a college tutorial system,along with JCRs providing events and societies for undergraduate members, MCRs being a centre for postgraduate students and the SCRs for the college officers, fellows and tutors. These common rooms are ran by an executive committee, usually headed by a President (or Senior Man in the case of University College, Hatfield College and St Chad's College).

Each college has a unique identity and a variety of facilities for students ranging from computer rooms and libraries to tennis courts and gyms.Most colleges have their own sports teams and compete in the collegiate leagues (such as Durham College Rowing) and have their own theatre company and orchestra which operate parallel to the university level sports teams and organisations.

Student organisations

Approximately 130 student clubs and organisations run on Durham's campuses, including numerous student government, special interest, and service organisations. Durham Students' Union (DSU) charters and provides most of the funding for these organisations. The DSU runs a Comedy Café, Fresher's Ball, Silent Discos and Vintage fashion fair.

Civic engagement

The Durham Union Society is one of the university's largest student societies

Durham's Student Community Action (SCA) oversees 45 volunteer projects in Durham and the surrounding area.[93] Colleges often organise their own outreach and charitable activities.

Durham University Charity Kommittee (or DUCK) is the university's equivalent of student's rag week.Original set-up as a week event, DUCK has become a permanent feature in raising money for local or national charities with events taking place throughout the year. Activities take place within each college, as well as centrally over the university. DUCK also organises expeditions to the Himalayas, Jordan and Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money as well being involved in the university-run 'Project Sri Lanka' and 'Project Thailand'.

Team Durham Community Outreach is a sports community programme aimed at giving support and opportunities through the use of sport. The programme runs projects such as Summer Camps for children from the Youth Engagement Service and fostered backgrounds along with providing coaching at local schools as well as participating in sports in action.

Student media

Palatinate, Durham's independent student run fortnightly newspaper, has been continually published since 1948.Notable former editors include George Alagiah,Hunter Davies,Piers Merchant, Sir Timothy Laurence, Jeremy Vine and Harold Evans.

Purple Radio is Durham's student radio station. It broadcasts live from the DSU 24 hours a day during term time. The station has existed since the 1980s and is a recognised DSU society. Two daily news bulletins are broadcast every weekday, as well as a Breakfast Show and an Evening Show.

The Bubble, founded in 2010, is an online magazine based at the University covering various subjects, including student and university news

The main theatre society of the university is known as Durham Student Theatre (DST), which comprises over 900 active student members.The Assembly Rooms is the university-owned theatre, located on The Bailey, which hosts a number of student productions each term. Alongside this, student drama productions are held at Durham City's Gala Theatre, venues around Durham University and within the colleges, Durham Castle, Durham Cathedral, as well as in national and international venues and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Since 1975, the university has played host to the Durham Drama Festival, which is an internationally renowned event that celebrates new theatrical and dramatic material written by Durham students. Other universities within the North East of England are also invited to join the festival.

One of the most prestigious theatrical groups within Durham University is The Durham Revue, which is the university's sketch comedy group. Tracing its roots back to the early 1950s, and known under its current name since 1988, the group consists of six writer-performers (auditioned, interviewed and chosen each Michaelmas Term) and produces a series of shows each year. The group performs annually with Cambridge University's Footlights and Oxford University's The Oxford Revue, as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Music is particularly marked by the Durham University Chamber Choir and Orchestral Societies (including the Palatinate Orchestra). The Durham Cathedral Choir offers six scholarships to students of the University. Several of the colleges (University College, Hatfield, St Chad's, St John's and Hild-Bede) also offer organ and choral scholarships to prospective students.

Durham is also home to the oldest Gamelan slendro set in the UK with an active community group and an artist in residence. The instruments are currently housed in the Grade II listed Durham University Observatory. Recently a set tuned to peloghas been added meaning that Durham now has a complete Gamelan orchestra. In recent years, the Durham Gamelan Society has performed at several major public events such as the Gong Festivals 2011 & 2012 and at the Gamelan Lokananta all night wayang kulit in celebration of York University's Gamelan Sekar Petak 30th anniversary in April 2012 as well as many smaller performances for the International Students' Festival and college events.