We’ve helped make a significant change to the way students can engage with sport at UCL. Each year, we support a cohort of Elite Athletes who compete nationally or internationally across a number of different sporting disciplines, however, until recently Elite Athletes have had no flexibility over how they balance their athletic and academic lives.
This has proved difficult for athletes competing in events that clash with coursework deadlines or exams, giving them a near impossible decision to make. We wanted to change this and make elite level sport more accessible.
Over the past few months, we’ve been taking a new flexible learning policy through different UCL education committees and in early 2024 the Flexible Learning policy finally passed.
This is game-changing, with the policy aiming to support Elite Athletes in two ways:
- Assessment Flexibility: If sporting commitments, like international team selection or major competitions, clash with academic assessments, the department may be able to offer flexible arrangements such as a deferral of assessment, or an alternative assessment.
- Pacing Your Degree: Departments will support students to explore options if their sporting commitments necessitate a change in mode of study or a break from studies.
The policy could help Elite Athletes do the following things:
- Flexible Assessments: Depending on the nature of your assessment you may be permitted to; defer your assessment, take exams overseas, extend coursework deadlines, receive support to complete assessments earlier, or explore alternative forms of assessment.
- Timetable Adjustments: UCL will try to adjust your seminar groups or practical sessions to fit your training schedule.
- Change of mode of studies: In exceptional circumstances, you may be allowed to switch to part-time.
- Recognising Authorised Absences: Your sport-related absences will be acknowledged as authorised and won't negatively impact your mandatory attendance. Although you must still meet the conditions of your Tier 4 Visa if you have one.
- Break from Studies: You may be able to take an interruption of studies for a full academic year for major sporting events.
We hope this makes our Elite Athletes programme more accessible, with sport being recognised as a significant part of student life.
Read about Nikhil Koteeswaran, the TeamUCL Elite Athlete competing at the u19 Men's Cricket World Cup.
If you want to help shape education policy at UCL, join the Leadership Race and put yourself forward to be the next Education Officer.