Athletes in a European Network for Advanced Education

A network of leading European Business Schools, Universities and Research Institutions

The project, AthENAE intends to analyze and set up formal education possibilities by creating an opportunity for athletes to make a success of their professional transition.

Based on several survey results, we argue that a lack of formation is often leading to social exclusion, a fortiori in our knowledge-based economy, in which flexibility and competitiveness define our modern epistemology. That's the reason why, to help athletes in their post-competition career, AthENAE project aims to describe, analyse and set up educations at undergraduate and graduate level, which can support athletes in achieving competences demanded by sports and sports related activities. A website will promote existing programmes and expected new e-learning ones.

Concretely, 10 business schools and universities, from 8 E .U. countries, 2 candidate countries, as well as Switzerland, constitute the team, lead by Denmark (Copenhagen Business School) and Belgium (Solvay Business School). Taking advantage of this European Year of Education Through Sports, we want to catalyse resources in order to promote transnational cooperation and mutual understanding in a trans-disciplinary environment. Transferring best practices from the corporate sector through former athletes will certainly benefit to vocational leaders and volunteers.  

Education is the first step to tolerance and we deeply believe that promoting sports skills and intellectual competences will carry best results for the management of sport and employability in this sector. The different experts' personal commitments with sports organisations will enhance the cooperation with the sport movement.

In 2004, the Olympic Games took place in Athens. To mark that event within our universities, our first goal, in the AthENAE's project, was to remember what education basically means, and how sports values are completely part of it, from the old Greek civilisation, our native european humanism, until our modern conception of pragmatic formations.