The university’s 10p sugary drinks levy will be introduced on all of its campuses from 1 August 2016.

The introduction of the levy comes at a strange time as all students have gone home for the summer and will not return until the autumn term beginning in September.

The money raised from charging stereotypically poor students will fund food education schemes for the students.

The university has the backing of chef, Jamie Oliver, who launched the ‘Sugar smart drive’ campaign.

Oliver said: ‘I’m hugely excited that the University of Brighton is joining the Sugar Smart campaign. It's brilliant to hear that they are introducing a levy on sugary drinks to help raise awareness about the long-term damage too much sugar can have on our health, and empowering us all to reduce it in our diets.’

The university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Debra Humphris, said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Jamie on this very important and worthwhile campaign. Obesity, diabetes and dental problems are causing untold misery and are costing the NHS enormous amounts of money.’

However, not all students are happy with the introduction of the levy with one student setting up a campaign called ‘Brighton Students Against Sugar Tax’. The campaign calls for a student referendum after outrage at the students being uniformed about the levy.

A UK wide sugar tax will be introduced in 2018 aimed at high-sugar drinks. There will be two bands, one for total sugar content above 5g per 100 millilitres and a second, higher band for the most sugary drinks with more than 8g per 100 millilitres.

Soft drinks manufacturers have already started to reformulate their drinks to include less sugar so that they avoid being taxed heavily or at all.

The money raised, estimated ta £520m a year, will be spent on increasing the funding for sports in primary schools.