The Needs Assessment Centre will assist you in applying for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) through a tailored needs assessment. Assessors from the Needs Assessment Centre have a wealth of experience in supporting, advising and guiding students with a wide range of needs. Your Needs Assessment Centre experience will ensure that your needs assessment will be individual and tailored specifically to prepare you for university life and reach your potential.

The Needs Assessment Centre is open to any students who are entitled to Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) or Student Bursaries for Nursing students. If you are an existing or prospective student for any other UK or Republic of Ireland university, we can carry out your needs assessment to have the support in place at your chosen university. If you are from the Republic of Ireland, you may be eligible for funded assistance similar to DSA under the Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD).

Click on the below link to download:
Needs Assessment Process Flow Chart

Eligibility will be based on appropriate medical verification or an up to date Educational Psychologist’s report.

Some of the conditions that DSA funding covers:

• Specific learning difficulties - ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia
• Mental health difficulties - anxiety, depression, OCD, mood disorder, PTSD
• Autism/ Asperger’s Syndrome
• Physical disabilities - arthritis, hypermobility syndrome, scoliosis
• Sensory impairments - visual/auditory/speech
• Medical conditions - epilepsy, IBS, MS, cystic fibrosis, heart condition, Crohn’s disease

You do not have to pay for a needs assessment. The assessment will be carried out by one of our experienced Needs Assessors who will help guide you through the process. They will review your medical evidence and ask you to think about the possible impact your disability could have on your studies at University and will ask you about support you may have received in the past at school/college which worked well for you.

Your Assessor will discuss one-to-one support (Tutors, Note Takers, Campus Assistance etc), demonstrate assistive technology (AT) software and show you specialist equipment to help identify the most suitable support package tailored to meet with your individual needs. The Assessor will then write a recommendations report based on your assessment which you will be given the opportunity to review before it is sent on to your funder for consideration.

Your funding body will then write to you (DSA2 letter if from the EA) to let you know the outcome of the assessment. It is important that you read carefully any letters or emails you receive about your funded support. Remember to keep a copy of your DSA 2 letter - this tells you what funding has been approved and if applicable, how to order equipment or arrange one-to-one support. It can take up to 14 weeks for the DSA process to be completed so please be patient and do not hesitate to contact the Needs Assessment Centre Team at nac@qub.ac.uk at any stage if you have any queries about the process itself and / or your support.

The needs assessment meeting is informal and will take approximately 1 – 1 ½ hours and will take place in one of our fully equipped assessment centres within the One Elmwood Student Centre. 

During your needs assessment, your assessor will demonstrate and allow you to evaluate software, specialist equipment and technology to determine the best possible solutions to help overcome any difficulties you may experience.

The assessor may also discuss and recommend other types of support for example mentoring or mental health support and specialist tutoring.