Along with the Summer Universiade, the International University Sports Federation (FISU) every two years organises a four-day academic conference. The FISU World Conference on Development through Sport took place between August 27-30, 2017 in Taipei City.

European University Sports Association (EUSA) actively took part in the event, represented by Ms Sara Rozman, EUSA Education and Development Manager.



The 2017 Conference was held at the University of Taipei, one of the longest standing and most iconic universities in Taiwan. The main theme ‘University Sport: Globalizing and Universalizing Participation’ echoes the globalization of sport and calls for exchange and cooperation in the field of sport. The four sub-themes of the Conference were Values in Sport; Sports and Healthy Lifestyle; Sport for Socio Economic Development and Sport-Friendly Campuses.



On August 26th, after the speeches by FISU Senior Executive Committee Member and Chair of the FISU Education Committee Ms Verena Burk, Ms Hsia-Ling Tai, President of 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade Conference Organizing Committee, FISU President Mr Oleg Matytsin and Mr Ching-Hwa Tsai, Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Tsai and Mr Matytsin officially opened the conference.



After the opening ceremony and impressive cultural performances, a panel discussion on Dual Career of Student Athletes took place, hosting Ms Laura Capranica, President of European Athlete as Student - Dual Career Network (EAS), President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association of America (NCAA) Mr Mark Emmert and Ms Shu-Ching Hsu, elite student athlete from Chinese Taipei. Two keynote speeches followed, both reflecting the main theme of the Conference ‘University Sport: Globalizing and Universalizing Participation,’ with Mr Emmert and Mt Chia-Hua Kuo Dean of the Research and Development at the University of Taipei.



The afternoon continued with HYPE Expo, which displayed the innovations that will shape the world of sport. After that, the finals of the sport contest, titled HYPE Foundation: Innovative Startups began, where top finalists competed for the title of the Most Innovative Startup in the World of Sports. ChaseWind, whose headhear was designed to prevent cycling injuries, was announced as the winning project. A banquet, marking the opening ceremony followed in the evening.



The second day of the FISU conference kicked off on the morning of August 27 with keynote speeches on sub-theme Values in Sport. Mr Chi-Huang Huang, Vice President of National Taiwan Sport University and Ms Renata Kopczyk, Assistant Professor at Wroclaw University of Technology gave stimulating speeches. After that 17 parallel sessions started, covering all of the four sub-themes of the conference.



The afternoon program started with two inspiring keynote speeches given by Mr Tsung-Min Hung, Director of Athletic Department at National Taiwan Normal University and Mr Karl Peltzer, Research Director of Human Science Research Council. Both speakers gave their thoughts on the sub-theme of Sports and Healthy Lifestyle. The day concluded with several parallel session and poster presentations.



The third day of the Conference started with keynote speeches on Sport for Socio-Economic Development, given by Mr Dong-Jhy Huang, Dean of College of Physical Education, National Taiwan Sport University and Mr Michael Lechner, Professor at University of St Gallen. After the coffee break and poster session presentations, researches took the floor and presented their findings in parallel sessions. The afternoon programme continued with the last keynote speeches. Mr Chien-Chih Chou, Professor at the Graduate Institute of Sport Pedagogy, University of Taipei and Ms Donna Spethman, General Manager - Education, Training and Risk, Australian University Sport and Honorary Adjunct Professor at Bond University, gave their views on the last sub-theme, Sport-friendly Campuses. The official part of the conference concluded with posters presentations and parallel sessions.



International experts and professors presenting measures and data resources, data analysis, exploration of theoretical issues, information about the status of university sport as well as the implementation of this information in policy and practice attended the Conference. The Conference explored how university sport can be used to improve the development and promotion of sport.



Ms Sara Rozman, EUSA Education and Development Manager presented EUSA, its activities and projects, presenting a paper titled Promoting social values through social responsibility projects in University Sport.



The closing ceremony featured also an overview of the other FISU education event - FISU Forum. After the presentation of the previous event in Montpellier 2016, organizers of next Forum, which will take place in Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation in 2018, presented the concept of the forum and gave the audience some basic information. Before the official closing, the floor was given to the organizers of the next FISU World Conference, which will be held in Naples, Italy in 2019. After their speeches the FISU flag was passed to the next organizers. Ms Hsia-Ling Tai and Ms Verena Burk gave the closing speeches. Ms Burk thanked the keynote speakers participants, organizers, volunteers and members of FISU Educational Committee for this remarkable event and officially declared the FISU World Conference on Development through Sport closed.

For more information, please see www.fisu.net.