Sport Development

About the course

The course is delivered mainly at the University of Bolton. Some modules are delivered at Bolton Arena so as to enable students to learn in a large and active real-world sports environment. Road and rail connections are excellent and the university is close to both the bus and railway stations.

What you will learn

You will learn how to articulate the ways in which sport and physical activity can have beneficial impacts on communities, and how community groups that are considered “hard to reach” can be effectively included. You will also learn to understand trends in community sport and physical activity within the context of government policies. You will acquire the skills and knowledge to be a strategic thinker and planner in utilising sport and physical activity to regenerate and develop communities. You will study coaching principles and will have opportunities to put these into practice.

The course will also enable you to develop a range of general personal and transferable skills including critical thinking, problem solving, communication, information technology skills and teamwork.

The learning you undertake on the course will enable you to develop your professional outlook and to perform more effectively in your future career. It will be of value in preparing funding bids, managing sport and physical activity projects and in articulating the community benefits of sport and physical activity.

Special features

• The dissertation, undertaken in the final year, provides an opportunity for students to undertake a self-chosen and unique piece of research in some aspect of sport development. Several modules include work-based learning.

• The course team are currently active researchers in the field of community sport development and have completed funded research and evaluation commissions from a number of organisations. Teaching is thus based on first-hand current knowledge of the community sports development sector.

• On graduation you will become a member of the university’s Alumni Association. You can be a lifelong member of the university community, able to access careers information and guidance, as well as the university libraries and periodicals, and other facilities.

Careers and professional development

The University has excellent links with local and regional deliverers of sporting initiatives and throughout the course actively encourages and supports all sports development students to gain practical experience and to build up an extensive range of governing body coaching awards.

Employment prospects are excellent. In recent years students have quickly found employment in local authority sport development units, school sport partnerships, further education colleges, county sport partnerships and private sector organisations. In addition, several past students have progressed to become teachers of sport development in further education colleges.

On graduation you will become a member of the University’s Alumni Association. You can be a lifelong member of the University community, able to access careers information and guidance, as well as the University library and periodicals, and other facilities.

Through developing professional skills and attributes, the course significantly enhances individual opportunities for career progression. The work experience module and the opportunity to pick up extra qualifications, for example coaching certificates and first-aid awards enhance the employment prospects of graduating students.

Mode of attendance: Full-time