Provision of Student Communication Support Services

The University’s Disability and Wellbeing Services requires the establishment of a Framework for various forms of Student Communication Support Services to support students who are Deaf or have hearing loss. The Framework will comprise of two main elements.

British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters are required to provide communication support to Deaf students during planned teaching activity such as lectures, labs and tutorials and to enable them to access all aspects of the wider University social experience outside of formal teaching sessions. Where necessary, they are also required to provide translation support outside of lectures and classes, both online or in-person, to aid Deaf students with direct study which can include podcasts, pre-recorded lectures and readings.

Electronic notetakers (ENT) are required to provide a set of notes for Deaf or hard of hearing students who cannot take their own notes because they are either lipreading or watching a sign language interpreter. They are required to provide a summary of what is being said rather than a word-for-word account.

All personnel delivering these services must be appropriately qualified, experienced, and trained in supporting disabled students within higher education settings. This contract requires the provision of band 1 and band 2 BSL Interpreters holding registration with the appropriate membership bodies and Electronic Notetakers holding signature level 3 and signature level 4 certification.

The number of students that require these services varies from year to year and is not finalised until the start of each semester. Additional information: Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.