Student Sport Ireland Competitions Eligibility Criteria

1 Student Status

For an individual to be eligible to participate:

1.1 A student must be registered, enrolled and hold a student card for his/her respective institution, and

1.2 A student must be a member of the respective institution’s club and/or have the permission of their institution to compete under its name, and

1.3 The Institution must hold membership of Student Sport Ireland.

Furthermore

1.4 A student who has their studies suspended or who has taken a leave of absence must wait until they recommence their studies to be eligible to compete again.

2 Course Requirements

2.1 In the Republic of Ireland: All students must be registered, at a minimum, on a level 6 programme and studying in an academic year at least 30 Credits of a programme leading to a major award. (Q.Q.I. National Framework of Qualifications)

2.2 In Northern Ireland: All students must be registered, at a minimum, on a Level 4 programme and studying in an academic year at least 60 credits of a programme leading to a major award. (OFQUAL’s Northern Ireland Qualification Framework)

2.3 A visiting student doing a Study Abroad Course (e.g. Erasmus) at an SSI member institution is eligible during this time provided that he/she and his/her study programme meet the requirements of Guidelines 1 and 2 above.

3 Academic Progression

3.1 Students will only be eligible to compete in Student Sport Ireland Competitions where Academic progression in a programme is shown;

An exemption to 3.1 is where a student is taking a year to repeat modules (up to 30 credits) or a full academic year; in this instance the student is only eligible to compete on the first repeat attempt.

4 Age Restrictions

A student must be 18 years or older to compete in Student Sport Ireland national third level sports competitions on the island of Ireland.

5 Institution Requirements

A student may only compete for one institution in all sports in any one academic year.

6 Year of Grace

There is no year of grace/ year down in Student Sport Ireland Competitions.

7 Permission to Compete

Suspension by a National Governing Body will apply to the relevant Student Sport Ireland competition.

8 Academic Year

For the purpose of Student Sport Ireland competitions, the academic year is defined as September to August. Students in any institution with an academic calendar not running concurrently with this will be eligible for the academic year during which they enter and any subsequent academic year’s subject to meeting criteria in Guideline 1.

9 Anti-Doping

A student who is serving a suspension for any anti-doping rule violation will not be eligible to participate in any Student Sport Ireland Competitions.

10 Transgender Student

The participation of transgender students in Student Sport Ireland competitions will be guided in the first instance by the policy of the National Governing Body of that sport. Where the National Governing Body has no policy, Student Sport Ireland will be guided by the International Governing Body of that sport.

At all times the safety of all participants is paramount for Student Sport Ireland. The participation of any transgender student will be considered on that basis.

11 Sabbatical Officer of a Student Union

A Sabbatical Officer of a Student Union who is intermitting during an undergradute or postgraduate course of study will be eligible to compete in Student Sport Ireland competitions for one sabbatical year only.

Appeals Process

Please follow this link to refer to the SSI Appeals Procedure.

Review of Criteria

The criteria will be reviewed by an Eligibility Working Group established by the board as deemed necessary.

Abbreviations

QQI = Quality and Qualifications Ireland

OFQUAL = The Office of Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation