The BUCS Anti-Racist Charter recognises the urgent and unequivocal need for the higher education sport sector to take collective responsibility for tackling racial inequality.

Signing this Charter is a commitment to accountability, transparency and anti-racist practice. It is a recognition that we must take direct action to dismantle systemic discrimination because for too many students and staff, progress, if any, is too slow.  

This Charter is a shared commitment to work together across institutions to prevent, address and respond to discrimination. Those who work in sport know its extraordinary power to build connection, nurture belonging, and serve as a lifeline for students balancing home and educational demands. The Charter aims to harness this collective power to ensure every student thrives and particularly those navigating the compounding pressures of racism and exclusion. 

The Charter and its accompanying resources are underpinned by research commissioned by BUCS and have been developed by members, for members. While the agreement is not legally binding, it provides a framework to support reflection and learning, and to share examples of best practice helping you begin your journey and celebrate success along the way. 

Directed by the research and by RERIG consensus, the Charter focuses on the following areas: 

Diagnostic Survey: In July 2026, the first wave of our self-assessment surveys will open which will provide all members the opportunity to complete a self-reflective exercise. BUCS has funded each institution to have access to a dashboard that will provide comparisons by regions and by other useful categories. This survey, with questions developed and tested by members, will help identify areas of strength and development and members will be able to use the dashboard to smoothly create action plans.   

Access to online toolkit: All institutions that sign up to the BUCS Anti-Racist Charter will gain access to the online toolkit and workshops funded by BUCS which will support HEIs to address gaps identified in the diagnostic assessment. Resources will be split into 4 sections:  

  • Policy and Practice: The self-assessment tool will help you identify areas where there may be gaps in your institutions policies. The toolkit will provide examples of best practice in how to raise awareness of reporting tools and build trust, support in advocating for the implementation or enhancement of policies within your institution. 

  • Education and Training: The toolkit provides a directory of training used across a range of different institutions with information on how and why it was used. It covers the pros and cons of the training and links to find out more. 

  • Community Voice: The toolkit includes links to key research which will help you to understand the experiences of non-white staff and students within sport, examples of how to implement effective mechanisms to embed diverse voices in decision making and examples of best practice to encourage co-creation of interventions.  

  • Competition Day Management: The toolkit will provide support in applying BUCS REG 5, including a webinar. It will provide examples of comprehensive reporting systems and examples of training provided to judiciary panels. 

To sign up to the BUCS Anti-Racist Charter each institution must have the following things in place: 

  • Reporting mechanism within your institution for staff and students to report incidents of racism or discrimination.  

  • Demographic data for engagement within your programme(s)* 

  • Allocate a staff lead for the BUCS Anti-Racist Charter 

In the first year, RERIG is targeting 70% of all BUCS members to sign up. 

*This does not need to be shared with BUCS and if you do not have access, BUCS can provide data for each institution.

Please record the following names from your institution.

These specific role titles might vary depending on the institution and how sport is run. For example, it could be that the Head of Sport is also the Anti-Racism Lead or the Student Representative is the Club President. We are not expecting institutions to have an existing Anti-Racism Lead role, this is someone who will be coordinating the anti-racist work for your institution. The intention behind requiring these roles is to ensure that there is senior leadership buy-in, student voice embedded in the process and an individual appointed to lead this work.