What is top-level university sport?

The World University Games are a truly international sporting competition in which only top-level student athletes compete. Organised every two years, the 2023 Summer World University Games were held this year in China, from 28 July to 8 August, and included about a hundred French athletes to compete in ten disciplines (athletics, badminton, fencing, judo, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, shooting, archery and wushu).

Special status for French university athletes

A total of 5,000 athletes from 115 different countries competed in the 31st Summer World University Games. For France, the athletes who took part in these University Games were all students with the status of high-level sportsmen and women (SHN). This status allows them, as the Ministry states, to “pursue their studies in higher education, while benefiting from adjustments to their timetable in order to keep up with training and local, national or international competitions”.

The French Ministry of Sport explains that top-level sport “contributes to the influence of the nation and the promotion of sporting values”. However, not all sporting disciplines benefit from this status. It is necessary for the French Ministry of Sport to make a list of sports recognised as top-level, mainly those entered in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. To date, 161 disciplines have been defined as “top-level sports”, for both summer and winter sports.

Requirements and special arrangements

To join the ranks of top-level sportspeople, the student website etudiant.gouv.fr specifies that to obtain this special status, students must be:

• be registered on the ministerial list of sportsmen and women in the Espoirs category and have been scouted as such by the sports federations beforehand;
• undergoing initial or continuing training in a higher education institution under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

When this status is granted, top-level sportsmen and women are given a range of study facilities, such as a reorganisation of their timetable, exemption from attending certain classes, exam arrangements and online courses. Within this framework, top-level sportsmen and women also benefit from educational support and monitoring by a “top-level sports referent”, support that can also be combined with tutoring by another student. Additional specific assistance may also be provided: support for accommodation, medical check-ups and dietary monitoring, provision of sports facilities and loan of equipment, and more.

Innovations, rights and obligations

For its part, the ONISEP (office providing information on study courses and occupations) points out that universities and grandes écoles are “innovating to encourage the success” of top-level sports students.

Among innovations, the ONISEP particularly highlights:

• Athletes are given a status similar to that of students-employee;
• priority in the choice of practical and tutorial groups;
• teaching time organised throughout the year by subject, an arrangement which reinforces the exemption from attendance requirements;
• a choice of continuous assessment or final exams and the staggering of the Licence degree (from 4 to 6 years of study to pass the exam).

In return, top-level sportsmen and women “commit to provide sporting and academic results”. At university and the grandes écoles, for example, “they are encouraged to take part in competitions in their sporting discipline in order to represent their campus at the highest level”. And ONISEP adds that they must also be “available to take part in events promoting their institution”, with some universities even awarding “up to 0.4 extra points on the overall average for the semester to sportspeople who meet these commitments”!