The University College of Football Business in London has announced an educational partnership with the Real Madrid Graduate School, enabling postgraduate students to study at both sporting institutions.
Through the alliance, students will be offered the chance to undertake a semester abroad at the Real Madrid Graduate School – Universidad Europea, the higher education arm of the world-renowned football club, followed by a semester at the UCFB campus in Wembley Stadium.
“We are the only club in Europe to do something like this”
The partnership will first be offered to students studying UCFB’s master’s in International Sports Management programme, but provost and chief executive of UCFB, Philip Wilson, said they will cap the number of students to around 25 to maintain standards, but will grow the number of programmes over the coming years.
“To give the bandwidth of the opportunities to those students, whether it be guest speakers, internships, it’s really important that we maintain the quality,” he told The PIE News.
The first cohort of students will participate in the exchange starting in September of next year.
Speaking at the partnership launch at Wembley Stadium yesterday, Emilio Butragueño, director general of the Real Madrid Graduate School – Universidad Europea and former Real Madrid striker, said: “What we are announcing today is I’m sure the beginning of a long standing and fruitful relationship.”
“We are the only club in Europe to do something like this, so of course we are very proud of what we’ve achieved so far,” he added. “It’s a big responsibility, we are very excited for what the future has in store for us.”
UCFB was founded in 2011, and has campuses in Wembley Stadium and Turf Moor, home of Burnley football club.
The institution delivers degrees in the football, sport and leisure industries at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Wilson said that the university is looking to further its international collaboration, adding that “sport is a global language”.
“Sport is one of the few ‘languages’ that transcends politics, geographies, cultures,” he said. “You can be at any airport, any bar, any restaurant, anywhere in the world and you can say, ‘What sport do you like?’ ‘What team do you follow?’ and you’ve got a friend there straight away.”
[Source:-The Pie News]