BSC (HONS) SPORT MANAGEMENT (ISDE, BARCELONA, SPAIN)

The aim of the Academic and Professional Skills module is to develop your knowledge, understanding and application of academic, personal and professional skills relevant to university graduates which will help you to successfully complete your degree programme. Both formal and informal techniques will be used to assess your development in key areas such as written communication, critical analysis and self-reflection. You will develop a range of general transferable skills useful for other modules throughout your programme, including knowing how to find appropriate literature to support your ideas and how to develop balanced arguments. The information you will learn will be linked to topics of interest to those working in the areas of sport, exercise and rehabilitation, giving you insight into these fields as potential career paths in addition to more general employability skills such as communication, digital fluency and time management.

This module will introduce you to research in relation to sport, exercise and rehabilitation. The module will guide you through the research process involved in generating new information via scientific methods. The module will provide both a theoretical and practical introduction to basic experimental approaches, data analysis techniques and report writing, and demonstrate the usefulness and limitations of research-generated information. You will gain an understanding of fundamental concepts and principles of conducting research and interpreting the findings.

You will learn about the research process (e.g., developing a research question and ethical considerations) and be introduced to the scientific method such as the basic concepts of planning, collecting, organising, and analysing data and report-writing in sport, exercise and rehabilitation. Learning materials will be delivered via interactive lectures, hands-on workshops, directed tasks and independent study. You will learn the basics about managing, analysing and interpreting data in practical-computer-lab workshops comprising the quantitative method of enquiry. You will also be introduced to basic methods of working with data from interviews and focus groups comprising the qualitative method of enquiry. For each of the methods, you will learn to identify when it is suitable to use; how to run the analysis; how to report its findings to experts and lay people; and how to use these findings to inform your critical judgement about your own research and that of others.

This module is centred on two important and interrelated areas. First, we examine the modern make-up of sport across all levels and track key changes in sport organisations occurring due to changes in the way that we live and work in modern society. For example, we will investigate issues including (but not limited to) commercialisation and globalisation, modern consumption practices, celebrity and stardom, neoliberalism and corruption. Second, we will explore the benefits and drawbacks, winners and losers, accepters and resisters to these social movements manifest in sport. To do this, we look at myriad definitions of the sport consumer and sport stakeholders. We will examine who benefits from sport’s current organisation and what are some of the costs (e.g. social, human, economic) of such practices.

You will learn about the key management theories and principles relevant to the global sport industry. You will be introduced to the core concepts, functions and principles of management, which will help you develop an understanding of the sport management discipline. You will be introduced to such topics as leadership, resource management, organisational theory and behaviour, marketing, facility and event management. You will also learn about how the various theoretical concepts are inter-related and how knowledge of such areas will help make you an effective global sports manager. You will also learn about international aspects of sport management and the opportunities and various jobs that sport management encompasses across the globe.

You will learn about the key principles and theories of sport marketing. The ‘Principles of Sport Marketing’ module introduces you to the core concepts, functions and the internal and external environmental of marketing, applied to the sport industry, which will help you to develop an initial understanding of the processes, strategies and techniques involved in marketing, by identifying links between theory and practice. On this module you will use literature which helps to explain key sport marketing concepts, such as: sport branding; sport sponsorship; relationship marketing; market research; and sport consumer culture. Throughout this module you will explore sport marketing in a global context; the aim is to provide you with sensitivity to and an understanding of societal and cultural differences. You will explore the strategies adopted by sport marketers, non-sport marketer’s use of sport as a promotional tool, and sports consumer’s responses to these strategies. We will scrutinize sport marketing strategies adopted by global sport organisations, NGBs, and sport clubs, providing you with an understanding of similarities and differences between the private, public and third sectors.

You will learn about the key aspects of finance and governance relevant to the global sport industry. You will be introduced to the core concepts of finance including financial planning, budgeting, income and expenditure, sources of funding and financial reporting. You will also learn how governance is utilised within sport organisations, and how policies are used to deliver strategic plans within sport. The diverse nature of sport and the various stakeholders associated with sport organisations will be introduced to explain how organisational culture and legislation impacts upon legitimacy. Such understanding will help you learn about the key theoretical concepts and skills needed to work within sport organisations across the globe and highlight the diverse opportunities available within the sport management sector.