Over 60 members of the FIFA/CIES International University Network met in Switzerland from the 23rd to the 26th of August. Their main objectives were to share experiences as well as to explore avenues to improve work and cooperation between academic partners.
The representatives of the 16 member universities of the FIFA/CIES Network and the CIES coordinators met in Zurich and Neuchâtel three years after the 3rd Seminar which took place in Buenos Aires.
After exploring the Swiss Alps, they got down to business and reviewed the progress made before discussing the role of sports managers in the 21st century. The discussions allowed them to consider ideas to better adapt curricula to the needs of the world of sport today, both at the global level and taking national specificities into account.
The participants then discussed the advantages and disadvantages of blended learning, referring to the excellent work done by Universidad de Costa Rica over the last three years.
The next day, the representatives of various universities gave talks on “best practice” concerning final group projects, promotion of the FIFA/CIES Programme, links between the Programme and national sports organisations, alumni associations and the challenges - met with panache - related to organising this curriculum in a sometimes very competitive environment. This was a very fruitful exchange of experience.
The Seminar ended with a conference on “Development of football at FIFA from 2011 to 2014 - diversifying services, results and implementing reforms” at the end of which participants asked many questions about the work of the International Federation “in the field”.
At the end of the Seminar, participants took home new knowledge and experiences. The social, academic and administrative objectives of the event were therefore achieved.
Many thanks to: José, Mariano, Rafael, Julio, Ibrahima, Astou, Ndoffène, Pape, Rodrigo, Sebastián, Martín, Michael, Rosa, Vernon, Denver, Wael, Ehab, Amr, Walter, Yamileth, Judith, Margarita, Acolla, Sherlan, Charisse, Marwan, Rania, Susan, Francisco, Isabel, Susan, Fernando, María José, Rafael, Ingrid, Mario, Víctor, Stavros, Pedro, Mauricio, Ruben, Ricardo, Daniel, Marco, Carlos Alberto, Sebastián, Joseph, Nadim, Wadih, Rashed, Mohamed, Bader, Alexandre, Karim, Witold, Agnieszka, Anna, Emilia, Daryia, Sergey, Irina, Abedi, Joe, Shaji, Joseph, Jérôme, Markus, Eva, Christoph, Cyril, Alexander, Raphael and Andreas.