Universidad Metropolitana (UNIMET), a CIES partner since 2010, has been busy this week. Indeed, it awarded diplomas to twenty-four students from the 13th UNIMET/FIFA/CIES International Programme in Sports Management, and welcomed twenty-five people who will be taking part in the next edition of this training Programme, organised in nineteen countries around the world.
Ricardo Da Silva Moreira, Dean of the Department for Postgraduates and Continuing Education, and David Quintanilla, General Secretary of the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), welcomed the new students to the UNIMET/FIFA/CIES International Programme on the superb UNIMET campus. The class will now spend more than six months familiarising themselves with the concepts of contemporary sports management.
As David Quintanilla explained, "We want sport to help create a better society. To achieve this, it is essential to train a new generation of managers at all levels of national sport and football. We are aware of the role that the Venezuelan Football Federation can and must play in this respect. That is why we are delighted with our cooperation with UNIMET and CIES. More than thirty of the federation's employees have successfully completed the Programme. We are setting an example and will continue to do so”.
The following day, the UNIMET and CIES authorities, together with Diego Cristaldo, who is a course alumnus and now FVF Marketing and Communications Director, celebrated the students who had successfully completed their studies. The speakers emphasised the importance of training in today's changing and volatile world of sport. They also congratulated the graduates on their excellent work and on organising the VI Copa UNIMET in April as the culmination of the event management module. This tournament brought together four junior football teams from disadvantaged areas of Caracas.
Concluding the ceremony, Ricardo Da Silva Moreira said, "It is a great pleasure to present our students with their diplomas. I am sure that they will invest their new knowledge in their organisation, whatever it may be. They will contribute to the development of sport in Venezuela based on its universal values and those of our university. This is the aim of our alliance with CIES and FVF. This is the aim of our joint work. For the good of all".
Congratulations to the graduates, welcome to the new students and a big thank you to UNIMET and the Venezuelan Football Federation.