European program on management and administration in the modern world of sports
01.03.2012
The Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO) program of study, which was initiated in the fall of 2010 in Paris, celebrated the completion of its first program in February 2012 with the successful graduation of a total of 19 participants. The 18-month course is designed specifically for managers and executives working in the field of sport and is intended to make them familiar with the new challenges facing this sector and the innovative management tools that are now available. What is unique is that the part-time MESGO Master's program is organized and sponsored by academic institutions and international team sport organizations working in collaboration. Involved in addition to Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), which teaches course module 7 on the subject of ethics, are the Birkbeck Sports Business Centre at the Birkbeck College of the University of London in the United Kingdom, Sciences Po in Paris and the Centre de Droit et d'Economie du Sport at the University of Limoges in France as well as the Institut Nacional d'Educació Física de Catalunya at the University of Lleida in Spain. The project is also being sponsored by international sports organizations such as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the European Handball Federation (EHF), the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), the European Rugby Association (FIRA-AER), the International Basketball Federation – Europe (FIBA Europe), and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The MESGO Master's program is to attract particularly managers of national and international sport federations, clubs, and leagues as well as their counterparts in sports organizations, ministries, and governments. The nine modules of the course examine the various features of modern sports management, looking at such things as the organization of sport, the legal and economic aspects of sporting events, and ethics in sport. "In October 2011, the Institute of Sports Science at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz held module 7 of the program that is dealing with issues of ethics in sports, involving a discussion of the issues of fairness and social responsibility in sports along with a consideration of doping, corruption, and discrimination," says main organizer Professor Dr. Holger Preuß of the Institute of Sports Science at Mainz University. "We were also able to offer the participants an interesting discussion platform that provided contact with many important guests such as, for example, Wilfried Lemke, who currently serves as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Dr. Klaus Schormann, member of the Commission for Culture and Olympic Education of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Professor Dr. Dr. Perikles Simon, member of the Gene Doping Expert Group of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Director of the Sports Medicine, Prevention, and Rehabilitation division at the Institute of Sports Science at Mainz University."