Tempus Speed

 

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Sport Professions: Education, Employment, Development in the Balkan Region

Building on two previous Tempus projects carried out in the Western Balkans to promote the Bologna Process and upgrade Physical Education into modern Sport Science, this 3-year project aims at:

1. extending the academic reform in Sport Science, involving additional Western Balkan Universities and countries, fostering curricula harmonisation in the Western Balkans and with the European Union in line with accession policies, promoting new teaching methodologies and quality assurance, exchanges through mobility and ICT technology;
2. developing a regional approach to Sport Science reflecting European standards and the manifold implications and potentialities of sectorial qualification in sport, as related to education, employment, development (sport centres, events, tourism, health, social integration, etc.), with a joint, vocationally oriented, Master and Life-Long Programs targeting Sport Science specialists, able to meet diverse job market needs, according to local specificities and personal preference.

 

Summary

Sport is a powerful tool for socioeconomic development and personal and collective wellbeing. In research and higher education this involves the expansion of Physical Education into Sport Science, accounting for much wider scope and new science, implications and job market needs: in teaching, training, management, health, social work, and so on.
Many Western Balkan countries, with their growing economies and developmental prospects, are becoming aware of these new potentialities, particularly as they look at the European Union’s accession policies, but they need to fill a gap.

Based on two previous Tempus projects conducted by the EU Partners in Albania, Kosovo (under UNSC Resolution 1244/99) and FYRoM to implement the Bologna Process and an initial curricular reform, this new project aims at:

1. extending the reform to other Western Balkan Universities and to Serbia, fostering harmonisation in the region and with the European Union;
2. developing a common approach to Sport Science accounting for modern standards and the manifold potentialities of sectorial qualification in sport as related to health, education, employment, development;
3. addressing the shared national priority personal services/sports and the regional priority vocational training with a joint, vocationally oriented Master and Lifelong Learning Programme targeting Sport Science professions, with a common core in line with the European standards, and specialisations with diverse learning outcomes and competencies to meet local needs and personal preferences.
   
   

Intensive Modules will be offered in various Western Balkan locations and flexibly combined with existing curricula according to specialisation, supported by vocational training and online work. The Master, involving a 1-year (60 ECTS) initial qualification (training), and a 2nd year with field and thesis work (60 ECTS) allowing different specialisations (e.g. health, management), will be accredited and sustained in the various countries, disseminated and recognised throughout the region and at European level, serving as basis for the establishment of Lifelong Learning Programme to acquire new competencies in sport.