Master’s Degree Programme in Responsible Management and Business of Sport

Are you aiming for higher academic qualification for managing sport organizations in a changing society? Are you dedicated to be sensitive and able to apply principles of responsibility and ethics in decision-making and organizing in the field of sport? Are you devoted and interested in acquiring scientific and practical knowledge about how to manage sport in front of the global challenges? Traditional Sport Management is now perhaps more than ever challenged to educate people for the changed norms, values and situations in turbulent times, which creates new foundations for sport and sport organizations to act and be managed responsibly.

The international Master’s Degree Programme of Responsible Management and Business of Sport (RESPO) is a new form of collaboration between the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences and School of Business and Economics (JSBE) at University of Jyväskylä. As a RESPO student you will be part of these two established faculties, which both have several decades’ experience of in organizing and offering international study programmes.

Sport and health sciences of JYU are among the top universities in their field. According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject in 2020 sport and health sciences ranked to position 50 out of 1 368 universities from all over the world. JSBE is AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accredited business school which is the most significant international recognition to an educational institution of economics for high-quality teaching and research. Only about five percent of all institutions in the field have received the AACSB accreditation. This new collaboration of these two fields is expected to create a high-quality study environment and student experiences.

The programme educates professionals of sport management for the needs of private, public and nonprofit sectors. Graduation from the program gives in-depth knowledge and skills to plan and execute strategic and tactical activities in managerial and expert positions related to management in today’s sport society. Employment possibilities in various sport are strong and constantly growing as sport and physical activity together with health and leisure more broadly are seen to play an increasing importance in societies.

As a RESPO graduate you will master in identifying the core areas and objectives of management and business of sport. You are able to make sense of logics of diverse sport organizations and you will have a theoretical understanding to support your thoughts. You are able to apply principles of responsible and ethical thinking in the sport context. As a graduate you are used to utilize academic knowledge and analytical tools to support your decision-making and argument your views. After completing the programme you thrive to work in multicultural, diverse and interdisciplinary teams with high respect on ethical behavior and enhancing sustainability.

The RESPO programme offers courses in three different areas:

1. objectives and operations of management and business of sport.

2. potentials and challenges of sport in the global context.

3. principles of responsible and ethical thinking of the sport organisations.

The programme incorporates an extensive research component through the Master’s thesis and related courses.