THE University of Limerick is one of six Higher Education Institutions to be awarded the Sport Ireland Institute Accreditation for Student Athlete Support (ASAS), which recognises good practice in ‘dual career’ support for student athletes.
Combining education or full-time work with a sporting career is known as a ‘dual career’. Over the last two decades, there has been an increase in the number of high-performance athletes engaging in third level education.
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. The accreditation outlines clear dual career criteria that third-level institutes must have in order to receive the accreditation.
The accreditation aims to identify and establish a network of accredited institutions who support elite athletes to achieve dual career excellence by applying guiding principles. ASAS was launched last July and the first applications were accepted in October. Accreditation was adjudicated by an award committee consisting of representatives of Sport Ireland and Student Sport Ireland.
UL President Kerstin Mey said that as Ireland’s sporting campus, ASAS accreditation was a natural fit that its student athletes are recognised in a way that allows them to enhance their engagement in both education and their full-time dedication to a sporting career.
“The dedication of our high performance athletes has always been recognised and supported at UL and we will continue to do this in ways that will benefit both their performance and their overall student experience.
“Today, we have reached another milestone in success for UL and its proud sporting tradition, and we plan to use this award and recognition to further develop the type of supports that highlight endeavour, commitment, success and celebration to our entire community, ” Professor Mey added.
UL joins Queens University Belfast, Setanta College, Technological University Dublin and University College Cork in being awarded full accreditation in conjunction with Student Sport Ireland, with Trinity College Dublin being named as an ASAS Affiliate recipient.
