Queen’s University Belfast: Queen’s in lead on elite athlete provision

The University has been accredited by the Association for Student Athlete Support national programme, which was set up in response to a 2012 EU Paper establishing ‘Dual Careers’ as a right for elite students.

ASAS is based on providing equal opportunity to all high-performing student-athletes to combine sport and education and is grounded in the right to education.

Sport Ireland Institute, working with the Higher Education Sport Sector and in collaboration with Student Sport Ireland, aim to have a majority of Higher Education Institutions in Ireland accredited by 2025. Queen’s is currently among an inaugural group of 5 accredited institutions including Trinity, University of Limerick, UCC, Setanta College and TUD.

Welcoming the award, Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Greer said: “Queen’s is delighted to be one of the first six institutions in Ireland to be accredited for its support of athletes, placing an important focus on enabling dual career pathways. Queen’s has a proud history of its students competing in a range of sports and athletic programmes and will continue to ensure we provide a high level of support to students at the university.”

Accepting the award on behalf of Queen’s University, Student Plus Director Caroline Young said:

“The world class sporting facilities available at Queen’s continue to attract the best and the brightest student athletes, locally, nationally and internationally. It is important that they know they have the supporting structures to be able to pursue their athletic career alongside an excellent education, and that’s what Queen’s deliver.”