British Universities & Colleges Sport International Strategy 2012-15 Executive Summary BUCS seeks to adopt an approach to international influencing which is developed across four key areas : International representation International sport and sport-educational events International competition International leadership and development In order to achieve this level and range of influence, BUCS has set some headline objectives which are: To regularly achieve GB post holders at World and European level in multi and single sport political, medical, and technical roles within university sport (FISU, EUSA and ENAS) To host one European or World level championship every 2 years, and one political meeting or educational event every 4 years To work with NGBs and UK Sport to maintain opportunity to send fully and professionally supported GB university teams to world-level events as part of the performance pathway To work within FISU/EUSA/ENAS and UK Sport international development opportunities to offer select groups of students an opportunity to take on international leadership and volunteering roles, as part of a BUCS Leadership Programme The ethos which underpins and permeates the above objectives is one of valuing the leadership opportunities which can be offered to our students, staff and our senior members through the sport-education mix, and notably through achieving this in the international sport environment. 1
1. Context for the BUCS International Strategy BUCS has changed and grown during the first four years of its life. As well as consistent growth in the numbers of members and participants in its sporting programme, BUCS has broadened its activities significantly to the extent that sport, sport development, healthy lifestyles, advocacy and influencing and financial stability have all improved. 1.1 The BUCS Vision BUCS vision is to enhance the student experience through sport, to support and promote the lifestyle and educational benefits to communities and individuals of taking part in sport, and to provide outstanding opportunities to all students to engage in sport and related activity in higher education. This vision comprises three themes : 1. SPORT : To provide a world class HE based sport infrastructure 2. EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT : To be the leading player in providing educational and professional development opportunities to students and staff in HE sport 3. PROFILE : To lead on the effective development of sport in Higher Education in the UK through advocacy, partnership and lobbying of appropriate national, international and commercial agencies 1.2 BUCS Governance The BUCS Head of International Programmes is responsible to the CEO for delivery of the International Strategy, who is in turn responsible to the BUCS Board. The BUCS Board includes a member with a specific remit for Sport, including the International Programmes. The BUCS HoIP is supported and advised by the BUCS International Group, composed of the senior GB representatives to FISU, ENAS and EUSA and the BUCS CEO. 1.3 The National Picture (UK Sport) Performance : To ensure that the UK s most talented athletes have every chance of realising their potential, UK Sport has created the World Class Performance Programme. The Programme covers all summer Olympic and Paralympic sports, together with the high-performing winter Olympic sports and operates at three distinct levels : Podium - supporting athletes with realistic medal winning capabilities at the next Olympic/ Paralympic Games (i.e. a maximum of four years away from the podium) Development comprising of athletes whose performances have suggested that they have realistic medal winning capabilities for 2012 and newly funded sports that are demonstrating the ability to be competitive by 2012 Talent - designed to support the identification and confirmation of athletes who have the potential to progress through the World Class pathway with the help of targeted investment Events : With several Mega Events already in place (2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games, 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 Ryder Cup, and the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup), UK Sport has 2
commenced work with NGBs in targeting an ambitious programme of events for the 2013-18 period, to take advantage of the unique event-staging assets that the UK will have in the coming years. Influencing : UK Sport works with NGBs and other partner organisations to help them build positive working relationships with ISFs and other international sporting bodies, assisting with the development of long-term strategies that aim to ensure an appropriate level of representation on ISFs and supranational bodies, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and their related sub committees. Leadership : UK Sport is committed to continually progressing a robust high performance system, led by World Class People. The goal is to ensure the UK is best placed to meet the demanding needs of a global high performance sporting environment by training, coaching, developing and nurturing home grown expertise. Programmes include Elite Coach, IDEALS (International Development through Excellence and Leadership), Event Management, Performance Lifestyle, World Class Performance Conference, Women and Leadership Development and the International Leadership Programme (ILP). The ILP underpins UK Sport s work with NGBs in building strategic relationships with ISFs to which they affiliate. 1.4 Sector challenges It is anticipated that the largest single factor affecting sports in the UK for the period 2012-15 will be (Government) funding for NGBs and UK sporting agencies post- 2012 Olympics & Paralympics. In addition to funding constraints, it is acknowledged that there are weaknesses in terms of (BUCS) member recognition of international opportunities. Senior national bodies such as UK Sport do not adequately recognise the significant contribution / impact that HE has on international sporting success, and international influence. 2. Purpose of the BUCS International Strategy a. To inform BUCS membership of its own and UK national sporting agencies international vision/ objectives b. To inform UK NGBs and national sporting agencies, and indicate where synergies exist between each organisation s international remits c. To guide development of an action plan in order to implement strategy d. To inform resource allocation within the BUCS budget model to support these aims e. To provide a framework to inform the sports-specific strategies of BUCS Sports Advisory Groups (SAGs) at international level f. To seek resource support through partnership to identify young sport leaders and deliver learning and experiential opportunities in international sport in the leadership, performance, events and development arenas through political, managerial, organisational, technical and other support roles g. To seek to influence government and other key agencies to achieve consistency of approach and UKwide legacy benefit in projects and initiatives in which BUCS becomes engaged h. To disseminate the good practice of the UK HE Sport model to other national and international sport and university sport federations; to learn from other nation s good practice 3. BUCS international activity BUCS formally affiliates to FISU (International Federation for University Sport, based in Switzerland (HQ) and Brussels) and EUSA (European University Sport Association, secretariat in Slovenia), and has active links with ENAS (European Network of Academic Sport Services) and EAS network (European Athlete as Student network). BUCS will continue with these affiliations and active engagement with these agencies. 3
3.1 International representation BUCS supports eleven individuals serving in various political and technical roles in FISU, ENAS and EUSA. Please see Appendix E 3.2 International events BUCS has successfully hosted a significant number of European and World University events with the partnership support variously of local authorities, the relevant national governing bodies of sport, higher education institutions, Sport England, UK Sport, TASS and commercial partners. Please see Appendix F 3.3 International competition FISU organises the World University Games (WUGs, also known as a Universiade) in odd-numbered years (Winter and Summer) and more than 30 World University Championships (WUCs) in even-numbered years. Summer WUGs is the largest sports event in the world after the Olympics, and consists of 10,000+ participants. Winter WUGs is the only senior multi-sport Winter event except for the Winter Olympics Entries are made by BUCS on behalf of Great Britain & NI, supported by the National Governing Bodies of sport in Great Britain, and the level of performance will dovetail with NGB World Class performance pathways. The World University Games represent probably the experience most akin to an Olympics in terms of scale, Village life and competition standard. In many respects, they surpass the Commonwealth Games and Youth Olympics. The Games provide the best opportunity for student athletes to experience and perform at a major multisport Games, either as part of their development pathway or as the pinnacle of their career. EUSA (European Universities Sports Association) events are Champions League competitions for universities and allow the top universities in the BUCS domestic competitions to compete against the best universities in Europe. Entries to EUSA events are made as a specific University, and all entrants will represent their university in EUSA competition. EUSA events also function on a biennial basis with a series of single-sport Championships in odd years, and a multi-sport event in even years. Please see Appendices G, H, I & J 4. International development ENAS and EAS each stage an annual conference relevant to their core purposes of supporting academic and sporting managers in their roles (ENAS) or disseminating good practice around supporting elite athletes in education (EAS). Student athlete performance in international university sports events is supported through the relationships with NGBs, along with the coaching, sports science, lifestyle support and mentoring networks which reside within higher education. The HE sector offers myriad opportunities for its young leaders across all these fields to gain experience through volunteering their services in whichever chosen field at regional, national and international level. In addition, it is able to develop and sustain a team of staff and volunteers who organise, manage, and coach teams attending world and European university sport events, along with a smaller number of senior volunteers who over time may mature into or indeed have opted for the political influencing roles. A team of 68 volunteer staff attended the last Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China 2011, and 21 supported the team in Erzurum, Turkey at the Winter Universiade in 2011. 4
5. BUCS International Strategy 2012-15 5.1 International Influencing PROFILE: To lead on the effective development of sport in Higher Education in the UK through advocacy, partnership and lobbying of appropriate national, international and commercial agencies Primary objective : To regularly achieve GB post holders at World and European level in multi and single sport political, medical, and technical roles within university sport (eg. FISU, EUSA and ENAS) Secondary objectives : To be able to influence the organisational infrastructure of international, continental, and regional university sport To ensure that best practice in anti doping policy is disseminated across university sport To support the development of the sport within higher education through an accompanying ethos which supports the smaller/less developed nations Influence any international university sport regulation changes that have a positive impact on UK university sport To ensure the programming of the events calendars meets the needs of GB athletes/teams To encourage greater female representation in all representative areas To actively seek to develop relationships with other UK international representatives who operate outside of the University sector for the wider benefit of international sport and education 5.2 International Events PROFILE: To lead on the effective development of sport in Higher Education in the UK through advocacy, partnership and lobbying of appropriate national, international and commercial agencies Primary objective : To host one European or World level championship every 2 years, and one political meeting or educational event every 4 years Secondary objectives : To target bids to complement UK Sport and NGB aspirations to build an event calendar which supports build to 2014 and beyond, and meets BUCS leadership and volunteer development needs To target bids where GB have significant opportunity to gain medals on home ground To target bids which complement those sports in which the HE sector is closely engaged with NGBs developing high performance centres 5
5.3 International Competition To support the aspirations of talented student athletes by supporting NGB s high performance infrastructures [...] and ensuring [...] European and World University opportunities are available to all members, subject to qualification Primary objectives : To work with NGBs and UK Sport to send fully and professionally supported GB university teams to world-level events, as part of the performance pathway Secondary objectives : To achieve medals at WUGs, WUCs and EUSA events To advocate and facilitate participation opportunities in EUSA competition 5.4 International leadership and development EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT: To be the leading player in providing educational and professional development opportunities to students and staff in HE sport Primary objective : To work within FISU/EUSA/ENAS and UK Sport international development opportunities to offer select groups of students an opportunity to take on international leadership and volunteering roles, as part of a BUCS Leadership Programme Secondary objectives: To offer medical, physio, media, officiating, coaching and manager personal development opportunities through NGBs, university hospitals and relevant medical/physio schools, media courses, BOA, UK Sport To build on career opportunities for mature athletes - enhance their leadership skills via supply of opportunity to gain experience in WUGs, WUCs, EUCs as support workers To bring experience back into UK via promotion of exchange opportunities for staff and students To mutually benefit emerging countries through our leadership examples and training opportunities promote sport to change lives To use developing continental base in FISU to provide student volunteering opportunities Hosting visits by other FNSUs as networking opportunities Supporting attendance at sport-education conferences abroad, eg. ENAS and EAS Networks 6