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Hope Unveils New Sport Management Course

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If you dream of a career in the sports industry, a brand new course from Liverpool Hope University could help you achieve that goal.   

The University has just unveiled its Postgraduate Certificate in Sport Management. 

Taught entirely online, the dynamic part-time programme launches in October this year and will take around 12 months to complete.

And for Hope’s Dr Liam O'Callaghan, Senior Lecturer and Content Lead on the course, the aim is to prepare students for an industry that’s set to continue expanding rapidly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Dr O’Callaghan explains: “The sports industry isn’t operating at full capacity right now due to Coronavirus restrictions. . 

“But this really is a temporary situation. And the upward trajectory of sport as a key growth area of employment is likely to resume. 

“It’s an industry that’s becoming ever more complex and specialised, and the variety of roles in it is becoming ever more diverse. 

“Through this course we’re really trying to prepare students to thrive in this dynamic work environment.”

A PG Certificate - often known as a ‘mini Master’s’ - is perfect for anyone looking for a shorter postgraduate course than a standard full-time Master’s degree. 

And the new Sport Management PG Certificate  - a collaboration between Hope’s Sport academics and the Business School - covers a broad range of topics to enable students to launch careers in both commercial and public sectors. 

It tackles sport administration and governance, global sport industries and technologies, sports media, communication and marketing, leadership and social responsibility, as well as human resource management and sport policymaking. 

According to Dr O'Callaghan, those skills are likely to be in great demand in the years to come - which is vital for anyone concerned about their employability. 

The course encompasses lots of different sports - with the general principles from various disciplines applied to different sporting scenarios. 

Dr O’Callaghan adds: “If you look at a relatively new sport like MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), it’s the product of a very clever marketing campaign. 

“It’s about creating characters and narratives - just look at the recent Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight. The actual bout was almost an irrelevance - the buzz was about the drama generated beforehand. 

“This is just one example of an emerging area of sport management we can explore in detail.”

Delivery of the course will consist of pre-recorded lectures, online discussion forums, reading with guided questions, assessment support via email and Zoom, as well as dialogue with individual tutors.

Crucially, students will be taught by a dynamic and experienced team of sport and business specialists with a range of research interests and applied experience.

Dr O’Callaghan explains: “A lot of the contact time will include a number of reading and research tasks, which will link to online forums and discussions. 

“We’ll have live Zoom seminars for Q&A sessions, and there will be some one-to-one teaching, too.”

The PG Certificate equates to 60 Level 7 Credits and comprises four separate 15 credit modules. 

To be considered for the course you need to have, ideally, either a First class or upper second-class honours degree in a relevant discipline. 

However, applications from participants who do not hold a 1st or 2:1 Honours Degree but have appropriate professional experience will be considered. 

Hope also expects the course to prove popular with international students, too. 

Dr O’Callaghan expects those who complete the course to go on to a variety of roles in the commercial or public sector, from marketing to event management and facility management. 

Cost of the course for ‘Home’ or EU students is £2,000, but if you apply before September 1st the fee is reduced to £1,500.

Meanwhile the tuition fees for international students is £3,800, reduced by 30% in the first year only to only £2,600.

For full details, head here.  


Published on 20/07/2020