Course Description
This course will equip participants with the specialist knowledge and skills needed to produce sport managers as well as the employability skills needed to become a sport manager. It has been designed to meet the requirements of the sport industry and is underpinned by the research and experience of our lecturers.
Learning Outcomes
- Critically discuss management and leadership theories and their implications for sport management practice and the dynamic forces of entrepreneurship and innovation.
- Critically analyze the role of the reflective practitioner and its importance for sport leaders and managers.
- Appraise the importance of ways in which finance and economics impact contemporary sport and sport organizations.
- Identify and assess critically the key factors in managing and operating a sport facility.
- Analyze critically the principles involved in the design of qualitative and quantitative research, and evaluate critically data collected.
- Knowledgeably evaluate the importance of good governance and policy in the world of sport.
- Analyze potential challenges to effective intercultural communication and identify ways to minimize the barriers to cross-cultural communication.
- Develop a critical understanding of the main debates within social scientific analysis of sport in contemporary society.
- Evaluate critically key legal, ethical and professional issues which underpin safeguarding practice.
- Identify a specialist subject within the field of sport and implement effective research to produce a unique and original research project.
- Analyze contemporary issues that allow participants to apply management and leadership theories in real situations and entrepreneurship and innovation within the context of sport.
- Devise innovative strategies by integrating economic concepts to address the various economic problems faced by the Sport industry.
- Apply critically management and leadership approaches suitable to specific sports facilities and events to plan, budget, and market sporting events effectively.
- Apply an understanding of the advantages and limitations associated with different qualitative and quantitative research methods.
- Evaluate critically the global governance structures and policies and their strategic impact of good governance and policies in sport organizations.
- Evaluate cultural differences and diversity and evaluation of critical perspectives in the sport industry.
- Analyze and apply critically sound leadership skills in safeguarding.
- Plan for and effectively utilize subject-specific data-collection methods and research methodologies to an independent research project.
Target Candidates
The BSc Sport Management (top-up) is aimed to current or prospective club and team administrators: athletes or coaches, referees, volunteers who work with local and/or international sports organizations. The degree is intended to develop participants to possess the necessary professional set of skills, develop in their respective career and contribute effectively to the overall betterment of the organization they will be employed with.
| Course Code | Duration | Credit Value | Next Intake | FT/PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LW/S/011 | 24 months | 120 ECTS | To be announced | PT |
| Contact Hours | Placement Hours | Self Study Hours | Assessment Hours | Total Learning Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 550 | 0 | 2330 | 120 | 3000 |
Mode of Training
The skills and knowledge participants acquire throughout the Sport Management degree will equip them with key business and management skills that can be applied in all kinds of organizations.
Participants of this degree (top-up) will have an excellent basis for specially deepening and broadening their knowledge in more specialised areas.
Participants can seek employment in a variety of commercial and non-commercial organizations in the sport sector, in roles as diverse as sports development, volunteer management, operations and strategy. Even so the degree is intended to develop individuals to possess the necessary professional skills, develop in their respective career and contribute effectively to the overall betterment of their own respective organisation. It will further help participants to also develop essential transferrable skills, such as communication, critical thinking, and teamwork.
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Assessment
The programme employs an effective assessment strategy that informs and supports the teaching and learning process and is an integral part of this process and will promote attainment and achievement. This strategy incorporates both ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ assessments. This is important in evaluating learning and providing feedback throughout the programme.
Awarding Body
Learning Works
Lecturers
Course Structure
Module 1 (LW/S/012): Sport Management and Leadership (10 ECTS)
This module will critically analyse key management and leadership theories and principles relevant to the global sport industry. It will evaluate the core concepts, functions and environments of sport management and leadership and develops participants’ understanding of this discipline through the application of management theory to practice via contemporary case studies. Participants will be taught all about the key skills, roles, competences needed in today’s sport industry, such insights will then give participants that ‘cutting edge’ when applying for that dream sport job. The content of the module will be research-informed and applied and the assessment will reflect this focusing on key functions within sport management.
This module will also afford participants the chance to develop a thorough grounding in management and leadership approaches across a variety of important sporting contexts. Participants will be able to critically consider these approaches and appraise their importance to both sporting governance and development.
Module 2 (LW/S/013): Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Sport Management (10 ECTS)
This module will analyse the dynamic forces of entrepreneurship and innovation in the sport industry. Participants will evaluate the impact these two forces have in the development of sport as a globalized business endeavour. Participants will critically evaluate why the sport industry is such a fertile industry for entrepreneurial activity and innovation and how they can leverage this successfully. The aim is for participants to develop intellectual skills and a deep understanding of theories and concepts by adopting an entrepreneurial approach to the sports industry. It will provide a critical analysis for individuals seeking to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation in the sports industry, whether through starting their own ventures, working within established organizations, or driving change as entrepreneurs.
Module 3 (LW/S/014): Reflective Practice in Sport Management (10 ECTS)
This module will analyse critically the importance of reflective practice and how it has become to be recognised as a core element of professional expertise. Reflective practice can refer to the ability to analyse one’s own practice, the incorporation of problem solving into learning by doing, or application of critical theory to the examination of professional practice. It will allow participants to explore critically how each of these forms of reflective practice raises several significant issues for sport management practitioners, particularly in terms of the way they view their practice arguing that all forms of reflection are vital to skilful sport management practice. This module affords the chance to participants to analyse the fact that critical reflection provides unique opportunities to understand the practitioner’s world, and, in so doing, to provide opportunities for emancipatory practice.
Module 4 (LW/S/015): Sport Finance and Economics (10 ECTS)
Finance, financial management and economics are crucial to understanding contemporary sport and financial matters.
principles develop within the sports industry together with an understanding of the way economic concepts permeates all aspects of the industry. The module will provide participants an understanding of the national and international finance and economic framework that influences markets and determines the economic environment within which sporting industries operate. It will also introduce participants to concepts on which the behaviour of all economic agents including individuals, firms, organisations, and governments are based.
Module 5 (LW/S/016): Sport Facility and Operational Management (10 ECTS)
The aim of this module is for participants to focus on sport facility and operational management. These areas are intrinsically linked and are usefully explored together. The module will focus on issues and skills relating to strategic planning, marketing, programming, management of operations, finance, technology, security, and information. The module will provide you with the opportunity to critically consider the operation of sport facilities, by integrating concepts and theories from sport specific, leisure management and business literature.
Module 6 (LW/S/017): Research Methods in Sport (10 ECTS)
This module will develop participants’ knowledge and evaluation of the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of the research process. Participants will gain experience of formulating appropriate research questions, research designs, proposals, and analytic techniques for conducting research in sport and management. It will evaluate qualitative research traditions, designing a qualitative research study, collecting, and handling qualitative data. It will further analyse the linkage between quantitative research design, quantitative data types and questionnaires and descriptive statistics.
Module 7 (LW/S/018): Politics, Governance and Policy in Sport (10 ECTS)
The aim of this module is for participants to develop a critical understanding of the policy making process, policy analyses, concepts, and models in sport. It will analyse sports governance and governance principles, structures, and standards of sport organizations both at national level and internationally.
Participants will also have the opportunity to pursue the following Indicative topics within this module which will include: the political use of sports mega-events; the political economy of sport; sports governance; sport development in international contexts; and moral dilemmas in global sport policy (such as match-fixing, gambling and doping).
Module 8 (LW/S/019): Cultural Intelligence in Sport (10 ECTS)
In this module participants will critically understand the diverse world, of sport and being mindful of other people and their cultures, this being key to successful interactions. In this module, participants will discover the impact of culture on one’s personal identity and that there are cultural universals that make up every culture. Participants will have the opportunity to analyse the common differences between cultures and how communication can be enhanced across the different cultures. It will help participants to engage and communicate better with others by understanding some basic differences in culture.
Module 9 (LW/S/020): Critical Perspectives in Sport and Society (10 ECTS)
This module will acquaint participants with the principles and applications of social issues within the sport industry. This module is grounded in sociological research and requires critical thinking to investigate the links between many of the major issues facing sport organizations today. Specifically, participants will be able to assess the intersection of race and sports, gender and sports, class and sports, media, and sports, as well as the issues plaguing youth, college, and professional sports in the globally.
It draws on critical sociological and historical perspectives to understand the role of sport in wider society and aims to set the study of sport management in its social context by examining the implications of the various issues for the management of sports organisations.
Module 10 (LW/S/021): Safeguarding for Managers in Sport (10 ECTS)
This module will provide participants with the understanding and awareness necessary for working and safeguarding when managing a sport organization. It will offer a series of principles and the capacity to apply preventative measures and effective safeguarding response strategies. Participants will critically evaluate how to identify and report instances of poor practice and abuse. Participants will also appraise critically the legal framework, ethical and professional practice issues surrounding safeguarding.
Module 11 (LW/S/022): Research Project in Sport Management and Leadership (20 ECTS)
The final module of this bachelor’s degree is an independent research project in sport management and leadership. Participants are tested on the skills, knowledge and competences acquired through the modules preceding the final one. The research project will allow participants to be able to critically formulate a research question based on their own preferred topic, identify, and critically assess existing literature and gather further data and information. A main factor of the research project is cultivating participants’ independence of thought and the ability to interpret material. Participants are expected to use the correct research methodologies and practices and present an effective research study.
Entry Requirements
- MQF Level 5 (60 ECTS) Diploma in Sport Management
OR
Equivalent qualification at MQF Level 5 (60 ECTS) in a Sport related area,
AND - Digital literate
AND - Have a good command of oral and written communication in English with a level of proficiency in English equivalent to at least IELTS Level 6.