The UAB and FC Barça create a master's degree in communication management and sponsorship
15/01/2018
The FC Barcelona and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona signed on 15 January a collaboration agreement to create the Management of Communication and Sponsorship in Sports Organisations, which will begin in September 2018 and forms part of the Sports Communication Lab, an initiative launched by both entities aimed at creating, researching and organising communication and sports events. The football club participates in this project through the Barça Innovation Hub, the club's research, development, training and innovation platform.
The signing of the agreement took place at the club's facilities and was signed by FC Barça's President Josep Maria Bartomeu and UAB Rector Margarita Arboix. University delegates also attending were Gabriel Masfurroll, President of the UAB Social Council; Virginia Luzón, Vice Rector for Communication and Promotion; Emilio Fernández, Director of the Olympic and Sports Studies Centre (CEO); and Miquel de Moragas, emeritus professor and founder of the CEO. FC Barcelona members attending included Òscar Grau, Executive Director, and Javier Sobrino, Director of Strategy and Knowledge.
Rector Margarita Arboix emphasised the fact that "the UAB has almost thirty years of experience in research and training in the communication and sports sector through its Olympics and Sports Studies Centre; this agreement with FC Barcelona allows the university further to transfer this knowledge to society". President of the Social Council Gabriel Masfurroll affirmed that "as a Barça fan and member of the UAB, this agreement is a dream come true". FC Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu showed a "deep satisfaction" with the agreement and assured that "this accord with the UAB allows us to make our knowledge of brand communication and management available to the future professionals working in sports organisations".
Answering Global Sports Challenges
The Sport Communication Lab will foster research and innovation; launch training, science update and specialisation actions; promote university knowledge transfer; and disseminate the research and knowledge generated under the agreement between the UAB and the FC Barça. The new platform will be attentive to communicational changes occurring within the world of sports. It will respond to new communication challenges of sports organisations around the world and will delve deeper into ways of interacting with fans, new ways of funding through media and women's empowerment in the world of sports.
The main activity of the Sport Communication Lab will be the organisation of the Master's Degree in Management of Communication and Sponsorship in Sport Organisations, which will be coordinated by the UAB Olympic and Sports Studies Centre and the Barça Innovation Hub. The master's degree aims to train professionals with a holistic view on sports communication, thus allowing students to discover the differential values of communication in sports entities.
Its main objective is to train professionals strategically qualified in communication, capable of proposing actions with economic benefits for their organisations and with the skills to administer these benefits. The master's degree perceives the management of communication in sports as an integrated process which not only takes into consideration relations with the press, but also the construction of a sports brand, a pro-active management of social networks and the relationships with sponsors and club members. The programme will include support from Barça professionals, as well as from other sports firms, federations, Olympic committees, etc., and it will created a favourable environment in which actively to learn and exchange knowledge about the latest communication and sponsorship strategies and actions, alongside some of the top experts making these changes in communication possible.
More information:
Master's Degree in Management of Communication and Sponsorship in Sports Organisations
Sport Communication Lab