The charitable program of the Russian Olympians Foundation "Assistance - Master of Sports Administration - Master of Sports Management", implemented by the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU), is an effective tool for social adaptation and professional development of athletes completing their careers. Education at RIOU allows athletes to continue their lives in the world of sports, but as a highly qualified manager with a wide range of new opportunities.
The cooperation between RIOU and the Foundation has been going on for 8 years - since 2012. During this time, almost 300 specialists from more than 70 regions of Russia have been trained on scholarship programs. Among them are 73 honored masters of sports, 56 masters of sports of international class, including 24 Olympic champions, 25 Olympic medalists and 39 winners and medalists of the world championships.
When selecting the winners of the grant competition, the following criteria are considered: sports achievements, higher education, work experience in the fields of sports and physical culture.
The relevance of the Foundation's program and sports education at RIOU is evidenced by the results of joint work on the search for candidates for training at the University. In 2020, 78 applications were submitted that met all the requirements, and the competition was more than two people per seat. As a result, 34 prestigious Russian athletes from 19 regions of Russia became the winners this year.
The "Assistance - Master of Sports Administration - Master of Sports Management" part-time program was developed by order of the Russian Olympic Committee, primarily for athletes who are active and those ending their sports careers, who cannot afford to be distracted from their work for a long time. The program, first, is distinguished by the originality and relevance of the material taught, an emphasis on real requests and needs of students, as well as the opportunity to get acquainted with the best practices in the field of sports management and marketing.
Education at RIOU will allow elite athletes not only to stay in their native sports industry in a new professional capacity, but also to create a solid foundation for subsequent career growth in the field of sports management.
Alexander Katushev, Executive Director of the Russian Olympians Foundation, believes that cooperation with RIOU this year is developing especially successfully:
- “The Foundation has just celebrated its 15th anniversary. It is nice to know that in this anniversary year, cooperation with RIOU has reached a new quality level. Apparently, this is due to the fact that this relatively young educational institution has developed practice and won the authority in sports circles. The competition for the proposed programs of the Foundation was 2 people per place. Moreover, that the general level of candidates applying for grants from the Foundation to study at RIOU has grown significantly. It should be especially noted that the joint MSA-MSM program with RIOU is not a professional development program, but a full-fledged professional retraining program. A record number of 34 people were admitted to it this year. I think this number will only increase in the future.”
Since 2017, the Russian Olympians Foundation has been allocating grants to Russian athletes for training under the Master of Sports Administration and Master of Sports Management programs.
