Launched in 1996, the masterSport programme once again takes a place among the top three courses in Europe in the Postgraduate Rankings, rising one place to second after finishing third in 2021.
The course, which is jointly based at the University of San Marino and University of Parma, has featured in the European top 10 in every year since the launch of the rankings in 2011.
Its initial foundation was based on the desire of a group of senior Italian sports executives to establish a sports education platform that gave students an opportunity to learn directly from senior figures in the industry. The programme has since stayed true to its Italian roots, continuing to be taught in Italian with the vast majority of its cohort coming from the country.
The head of masterSport is Marco Brunelli, who is also secretary general of the Italian Football Federation. Brunelli has held the role since the course’s inception. There is a permanent faculty of around 10 professionals each year underpinning the course, made up of academics who have run regular courses in other universities and teach individual modules on the masterSport programme.
This is augmented by what the course’s organisers see as its central characteristic, its ability to bring the real-world experience of the sports industry to its curriculum via guest speakers. The course hosts 80 to 90 professionals from the industry each year. The interaction with industry is further solidified by a project which centres on placement within an organisation, which concludes the course.
In terms of performance on the metrics that comprise this year’s Postgraduate Rankings survey, the masterSport scores particularly well on Quality of Curriculum, scoring third globally with a total of 93.33. Moreover, it is placed first globally on the Career Advancement metric with a score of 93.06. The programme also excels on the Industry Network measure, with a score of 98.33.
Next year, 2023, a new chapter of masterSport’s history will begin, with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia joining as a partner university, with the University of San Marino also retaining its role within the course.
This article is part of the 2022 SportBusiness Postgraduate Rankings. To browse the entire report and view the overall tables, click here.