Following two transcendent Universiades, another promising year in international university sports begins anew

In 2017, the cities of Almaty and Taipei pulled back the curtain and showed the world what they could do as hosts of the Winter and Summer Universiades. More than providing home field advantage for their athletes, inviting student-athletes from all corners of the globe to compete instilled a certain special magic in the host city.

While watching a movie trailer about the Taipei Universiade, mayor Wen-je Ko was seen choking back tears a number of times during the five-minute short version screening. At the end of the documentary, the mayor proudly and loudly proclaimed “Taipei did it!”

From the Almaty Universiade, some six hundred plus student-athletes took their talents on the snow and ice to the PyeongChang Olympic Games. Perhaps none, though, did so more dramatically than Lim Hyo-Jun. The Korean short track speed skater turned a fourth place in Kazakhstan to Olympic gold on home soil, his country’s first gold of the Games.

 Almaty 2017 Winter Universiade short track speed skater Lim Hyo-Jun turned from a fourth place finish in Kazahstan to Olympic gold in PyeongChang

From this sporting excitement of 2017, the well springs eternal for another promising year in university sports. With the 2018 FISU World University Championships (WUC) season opening with Ski Orienteering in Estonia, the most ambitious event calendar in FISU’s history began. All told, 34 WUC events will be held this year, helping bring high level sports events to more university campuses than ever before. It’s also worth mentioning that the FISU University World Cup — Football gets underway with regional qualifying tournaments this year as the play-in to the inaugural finals of the event in 2019. 

 The World University American Football Championship made its second appearance here in Monterrey, Mexico. In the 2018 WUC calendar, the upcoming edition will take place in Harbin, China

Macao, China and Namibia join the growing FISU host-countries list, demonstrating the growing universality of university sport around the globe. 2018 also marks the first WUC edition of Cheerleading, Muaythai, Modern Pentathlon, Roller Sports and Wushu as FISU continues to lead the way in offering sport events that resonate with today’s student-athletes. All told, FISU anticipates over 8,000 participants to take part in this year’s World University Championship series, showing the dynamism of the University Sports Movement.

 FISU’s combination of education events alongside the sports competitions is a key distinguishing feature in the wide world of sports

In addition to its core business of sports, FISU has a wide range of educational and cultural events dedicated to enhancing and growing its activities. In recent years, FISU has put a focus on event volunteering, seeing this as an ideal way for a new generation of sport management professionals to improve the athlete experience, and to enhance FISU’s university sport mission.

This year brings the second edition of two programmes tied to this volunteering theme, the International Volunteer Programme and the FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy. The International Volunteer Programme invites 70 students to join a 2018 FISU World University Championships organising team, as they gain realworld, on-the-ground insight into what it takes to put on an elite sports event.

Following a very successful two editions of the FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy, the event is back in the 2013 Summer Universiade city of Kazan, Russia 

The FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy will take place this June in Kazan, Russian after a successful start there in 2017. Through this programme, each of FISU’s 174 member associations was invited to nominate an attendee to receive world-class training during the eight-day event, free of charge. This year, the long-awaited FISU Ambassador programme will kick off in Kazan. You’re sure to hear more about this in the days to come!

Standout participants will earn the right to work at the FISU Forum this August, or the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade, which will be held in the heart of Siberia next March.

This year’s FISU Forum is a five-day event where future young leaders meet with the executives and managers inside the international University Sports movement. No less than 70 countries are expected at the biennial forum, which will take place in the upcoming Winter Universiade host city from the 6-10 August. 

 FISU continues its close collaboration with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), as WADA representatives will be keynote speakers at both the Volunteer Leaders’ Academy and FISU Forum in Krasnoyarsk. This is in addition to the innovative anti-doping e-textbook the two international federations put together in 2015 to bring this education initiative into the university curriculums around the world, along with anti-doping athlete testing taking place at World University Championship events, 3×3 World University League and upcoming Universiades. 

In Krasnoyarsk, attendees will get an up close and personal view of the venues and facilities of the Winter Universiade, creating a fertile ground for discussion on the main topics of the Forum. This year’s forum sessions centre on providing equal opportunities in sport, dual career, and ensuring good governance. In addition to the event’s comprehensive courses, there will be breakout workshops and leadership seminars to ensure that there’s a bridge to take new ideas learned at the conference into action.

As a capstone to the FISU’s educational events and tying into the excitement of the World University Championship season, FISU and its members will again celebrate the International Day of University Sport on 20 September in partnership with UNESCO.

On this occasion, various events will take place, including the third edition of Lausanne In Motion and the second edition of Monash in Motion in Melbourne, Australia.

Cities and campuses around the world helped to celebrate the International Day of University Sport, a day officially proclaimed by UNESCO to take place every 20th of September More than a day to promote sport activities, the 20^th of September helps ignite a conversation about the educational side of sport and its benefits to areas such as inclusion and developing lasting leadership skills.

These festivals of university sport bring together campuses and a city to promote the practice and the development of sports for all, and work as a platform to exchange ideas, developments, challenges and opportunities within and through university sport on a worldwide level.

With the 20th of September being a day packed with 24 hours of exciting and engaging sports activities around the world, come celebrate the International Day of University Sport with FISU as a way to unblock the way for every student who wants to play sports.

The skills learned in competition and in training are real: today’s stars are set up well to distinguish themselves as tomorrow’s leaders