BUCS

Interesting. Kind of riders vs Eagles.

Newcastle

The first thing to do when thinking about BUCS or university basketball is to forget about everything you know about NCAA and the American College system - there is very little in common.
In BUCS the only eligibility criteria is that you are registered on a qualifying course at the institution for whom you are playing - you can be a full-time professional player in the BBL and you can carry on playing in the BUCS competition indefinitiely so long as you sign up for the course. Once the BBL team started linking with universities and offering scholarships as a way of subsidising salaries then initially Worcester and Durham came to the fore - now we are looking at loughbrough and northumbria. You will more than likely see elements of the BBL roster pop in and out during the season depending on the level of competition.
Prior to that Plymouth Marjons were one of the first unis to offer basketball scholarships in the UK and they dominated the early 00ies. Throw in Oxford who usually have a selection of visiting American postgrads available that have kept them around the premier league for a number of years. The other phenomenom is players who have played for 6,7,8 years, sometimes for the same college and sometimes changing as they join new squads around the country.
All this adds up to the fact that yes the opportunities in top UK university squads may be slightly more limited (compared to the US) if you're an 18 year old British kid moving on from EABL or national league. This sounds disappointing - but only until you realise that BUCS has historically played virtually no role in the development pathway of young British players (that is not to say that there aren't good players  in university programmes or that particular institutions don't develop their own players).

Could it not be displayed on the licence card now many years you've played?