BUCS Student Rowing Club Accreditation Scheme

Why have an accreditation scheme?

‘Accreditation’, in whatever environment, generally signifies that the club or individual has been through some form of assessment and / or quality assurance process. People (customers / partners / potential members) feel more confident in dealing with ‘accredited’ organisations.

BUCS & BUCS Rowing are very supportive of the concept of accreditation for student clubs and are delighted to be working with the ARA, SARA and WARA to help promote the BUCS student rowing club accreditation scheme.

What is the accreditation scheme?

The scheme has been developed by the ARA, and is offered to clubs in conjunction with the ARA, SARA and WARA.

The scheme is very much based on the national Clubmark scheme developed by Sport England (see the Clubmark web site and the ARA's clubmark section) and adopted by many community based rowing clubs.

The BUCS student rowing club accreditation is available to all student / University clubs (including BUCS members in Scotland and Wales).

The aim of the scheme is to provide guidance and a structure for club officers to help in setting up and running their club efficiently and in a well ordered manner.

Once clubs have registered to become accredited they will be given access to a web based system which guides them through processes and tasks to complete formal papers and information about the club. This information is then retained in a central database and is easily accessible so that new committees will not be faced with having to restructure the club from scratch on an annual basis.

The scheme covers sign off processes in the following areas:

Duty of care and participant welfare
Coaching and Competition
Club Management
Sports Equity and Ethics

The accreditation process itself is not onerous, the web based structure guides clubs through a series of small steps. Any club can decide to take part. Details of the scheme are here- link to scheme accreditation doc.

The scheme has been running for the past 12 months and the ARA is already working with a number of student clubs, many of which have already completed the accreditation process. BUCS is aiming to work with the ARA to have approx. 30 clubs accredited by March 2009.

Are there benefits to being accredited?

Organisations such as Athletic Unions, Universities, BUCS, the ARA, sponsors etc. will recognise ‘accredited’ clubs as being well organised and more credible when applying for support, guidance, funding etc.

In addition accredited clubs will:

Increasingly be the only clubs eligible to bid for funding for development activities etc. on the basis that they provide a greater level of assurance
Be more confident that the structure of their club is robust and sustainable with documents and records available on the website so that officers taking up post the following year will not have to start the process again
Have access to further support from CDOs in developing the club

Clubs which have been through the scheme have commented:

I wish I had had this information when I became club president- Sheffield Hallam University
The online system is easy to work through and quick- Hull University
Really helpful for getting our club in order and also to prove to our Union that we are a serious and well run club- Sunderland University

What do I do if I am interested in my student rowing club becoming accredited?

If you have any queries, would like to register for the scheme or would like further information please email rory.semple@ara-rowing.org or contact your local ARA Coaching and Development Officer