About
Elite Athlete Friendly University Network
Guiding Principles for Implementation of the National Network of Athlete Friendly Universities
Supporting Australia ’s elite athletes to achieve academic excellence
Purpose
To establish a network of elite athlete friendly universities that adopt the following guiding principles within their policies and/or systems to support Australia ’s elite athletes to achieve academic excellence.
Background
The value of combining both sporting and academic aspirations is well recognised across the university and sporting fraternities. The challenge now placed on both sectors is to identify and implement the necessary support systems to facilitate this occurring.
From our experience the type of flexibility required by the student-athlete is available within existing university policy documents and frameworks. However, the availability of these support systems is not widely known and not generally applied to the athlete population.
This network, therefore, seeks to highlight the specific requirements of the elite athlete population, and the flexibility and systems needed to create a supportive environment that is conducive to the achievement of academic excellence.
This document seeks to detail the flexibility and systems that are required, through the development of guiding principles. It is expected that universities within the network review these principles, in line with their existing policies to identify opportunities to tailor the documentation to highlight the specific needs of the elite athlete population and/or to develop new systems where there is currently no documentation in place.
For universities to successfully adopt these guiding principles and implement them to the benefit of the student-athlete, support and commitment must be evident within the policy documents. This will then inform and guide behaviour of staff across the university network, and provide leverage for discussions and negotiations within individual schools and/or faculties.
Guiding Principles
The following guiding principles identify the key areas where elite athletes require support to be able to successfully integrate their academic and sporting aspirations. It is requested that universities identify within their existing policy framework (or develop as necessary), ways to accommodate these guiding principles into practice.
University Commitment
Nominated Staff Contact
The appointment of a specific staff contact person, to support elite athletes within the university. It is expected that this person be of a significantly senior position within the university, to be able to effectively negotiate and implement the guiding principles across the university environment. This position will provide the following support:
- Advice and guidance to student-athletes on academic planning
- Support in negotiating necessary flexibility to meet academic requirements
- Advocacy for the student-athlete within the university environment
- Support in negotiating and/or implementing student cross institutional study or credit transfer arrangements
- Provision of advice and support to local Athlete Career & Education Adviser or related personnel
Flexible Study Options
Universities will use their best endeavours to tailor (or develop) policy documentation to incorporate the student athlete needs highlighted below:
- Assessment related needs:
- Ability to negotiate assessment deadlines based on sporting related travel commitments
- Ability to sit exams externally under exam conditions, within the athlete’s environment (e.g. whilst travelling, in their hotel etc)
- The minimum attendance at lectures, tutorials or practicals waived where student-athlete unavailable due to sporting commitments
- Enrolment related needs:
- Ability to:
- tailor academic study load to integrate with sporting commitments, available for first year students as well.
- negotiate lecture, tutorial and practical timetables to accommodate sporting commitments
- extend minimum time to complete course due to periods of decreased study load
- take several leaves of absence where required due to increased sporting commitments (e.g. Olympic Games year)
- complete cross institutional study options with interstate universities, and flexibility within this policy provided for student athletes (e.g. first year student’s eligible, increase number of subjects able to be completed by cross institutional study
- Provision of summer study alternatives and/or ability to swap between distance education mode and on campus mode, depending on sporting commitments
- Recognition of credit achieved at interstate universities
- Ability to:
- Course related needs:
- Access to distance education materials, and/or class notes for missed lectures, tutorials or practicals
- Ability for elite-athletes to submit accompanying documentation for consideration for entry into course. This to be highlighted within Tertiary Admissions documentation.
Whilst the majority of elite athletes within Australia will be on scholarship within the Australian Institute of Sport or the network of institutes and academies of sport, there are many athletes that may fall outside of this cohort. The following strategies are therefore suggested for identifying elite athletes studying at universities within Australia .
- For athletes to access the support identified within the guiding principles outlined above, they must be identified and recognised by one of the following organisations as an elite athlete:
- Australian Institute of Sport
- State Institutes or Academies of Sport
- AFL Players’ Association
- Australian Cricketers’ Association
- Rugby Union Players’ Association
- Rugby League Professionals’ Association
- Australian Professional Footballers’ Association
- National senior squad members from ACE supported sports
- If an athlete falls outside of these organisations, they may submit an application for consideration, to the university. The National CACE manager will act as a representative from the Australian Sports Commission to investigate, verify and make a recommendation to the university.
Universities will identify and establish appropriate self-registration processes for student-athletes to identify themselves. The National CACE Program will also coordinate an internal promotion campaign to identify athletes and to provide this information to the university.
