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BUCS is keen to offer sporting opportunities to all students within its programme. In January 2010, David Padgen was appointed as the organisation's first National Disability Officer. Funded by BUCS, Hefce and the University of Nottingham David is tasked to research and improve the university sport experience to disabled students. You can contact David at David.Padgen@bucs.org.uk

Currently BUCS can cater for student athletes with disabilities in the following sports:
 

• Swimming (Long and Short Course Championship events): Disabled athletes are encouraged to enter and there is a specific section on the entry form for these events.
• Athletics: BUCS has offered mixed disability races at both the Indoor and Outdoor events in conjunction the NGB (UK Athletics). We have also had athletes compete against non-disabled students in athletics categories.
• Table Tennis: BUCS is actively encouraging athletes with a disability to compete, however we received no entries in 2007/08. The idea behind this was that we would either run a specific event if we had enough entries or offer all athletes the opportunity to compete with non-disabled students.
• Archery: The Indoor and Outdoor Championships have offered the opportunity for athletes with disabilities to compete and we have had a number of competitors compete (and win titles) in the past.

 

All BUCS sports are managed in accordance with the relevant National Governing Body guidelines (either British or International). This does mean that we are bound by the rules and, sometimes, constraints in terms of who is eligible to compete. This also applies to gender as well as disability.

AUs have the final decision in which students can compete in competitions and will enter student athletes depending on the entry requirements and rules and regulations for each sport (these can be found on each of the sport specific pages within this site). It is an institutional decision should the AU wish to enter an athlete with a disability into BUCS competitions as part of the university team/squad.

BUCS, however, is keen to accommodate (alongside NGB guidelines) athletes with disabilities taking part in our current competition programme.

For more support about disability sport please visit: www.parasport.org.uk or http://www.paralympics.org.uk/
 

View the Football Association's Disability Football Strategy here

 

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Disability inclusion in higher education sport
The state of play

BUCS is looking to offer a research project at Masters level to investigate the state of sport for disabled students in higher education. It is intended that the information gathered in the project and the conclusions drawn will be used to form strategy for improving delivery in the sector.

Aims

• To offer an academically viable opportunity for a significant piece of research which forms part of a senior qualification.
• To offer a project which gives useful experience to the researcher and enhances employment prospects.
• To provide data and analysis which is of national significance in the context of opportunity for sport.

National Disability Sport Officer
In January 2010, David Padgen became the first postholder in this job and works on behalf of British University and College Sport. He will be the link person for the research project and his work base is with the Department of Sport and Physical Recreation at the University of Nottingham.

Key research areas

• What are the current opportunities for disabled students in higher education sport in terms of:
  • Recreational activity
  • University Sports Clubs
  • Competition
• What are the restrictions and barriers to inclusion experienced by institutions and activity providers in higher education sport?
• What are the experiences of disabled students in accessing and becoming included in sport in higher education, and what would disabled students like to see change in the next 3 years?  What part can disabled students play in driving the changes?
• What models of good practice of inclusion currently exist in Higher Education Sport in the UK?  What makes the difference?

 

Background
A study in 2009 on behalf of Scottish University Sport into this area came out with three headline findings:
1. Participation by disabled students at the University facilities is at a very low level, yet in most cases the facilities seem to be in place.
2. The facility providers are lacking specific strategies to increase participation by disabled students.
3. The main barriers to participation are a lack of staff experience and time, facility access and suitability of facilities and / or equipment.

This 2009 study recognises that is was limited in the recommendations it could make because the interviews were only being conducted with the staff in the sport and recreation department, and with AU Presidents.  The study was not able to engage with disabled students and picking up this source of information and input will be a crucial element of this new study.

Quantitative research
Initially, a comprehensive auditing exercise should be conducted to map the current opportunities for disabled students in university sport across the three areas of recreational opportunities, university sports clubs and competitive opportunities.  This should cover both ‘mainstream’ opportunities that are genuinely inclusive of disabled students (the researcher will work with David Padgen to formulate the criteria for this category) and those dedicated opportunities specifically for disabled students.

Qualitative research
Following the findings from the Scottish research, and to ensure engagement with disabled students, it is then recommended that the research focus on a population of disabled students in / completing their 1st year of study at a small number (5 or 6) of institutions across the UK.  This would provide us with a cohort that we can return to in 2 / 3 years time and assess the impact of the interventions BUCS and the institutions make over that period.

This audit will also help us to identify models of good practice across the sector in the UK and to clarify what interventions make the difference between mediocre and best practice.

Time scales
BUCS would envisage the research findings being made available by September 2010 in the case of the quantitative data, and the qualitative data to be available by the end of 2010.

If you are interested please contact David.Padgen@bucs.org.uk

 

Last updated: 10th Jun 2010 10:15

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