Press Release: University of Jyväskylä

The international Master’s Degree Programme in Sport and Exercise Psychology at University of Jyväskylä has been selected in the Erasmus Mundus Programme funded by the European Commission. Erasmus Mundus is a worldwide cooperation and mobility programme which aims at enhancing quality in higher education and promoting intercultural understanding.

- Erasmus Mundus is a very competitive and sought after programme, and being selected in it brings a kind of quality stamp for our programme, says Tuija Koponen, Head of International Office at the University of Jyväskylä.

The European Commission selects to fund high level joint European master’s programmes for five years. The programmes are granted support for administrative expenses and scholarships to be given to European and non-European top students and visiting teachers. The Master’s Programme in Sports and Exercise Psychology is the first programme at the University of Jyväskylä to be included in the Erasmus Mundus programme.

- This master’s programme aims at providing students with high quality, master’s level education in English within a European network, which hosts the best expertise in the field, says Academic Planner Anna-Maria Strengell from the Department of Sport Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä. - Students graduating from this programme will be professionals of development, education and research in the field of sport psychology and they will have the opportunity to create a wide international professional network within their own discipline already during their studies, Strengell continues.

The programme is coordinated by the University of Jyväskylä with Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology Taru Lintunen in charge. Partners are the universities of Lund (Sweden), Leipzig (Germany) and Thessaly (Greece). Graduates will receive Master’s degrees from two universities, from their home university as well as from their exchange university. - The double degree structure widens the specialization opportunities of students and offers them the possibility to familiarize themselves with the academic culture, teachers and fellow students of two countries, Professor Lintunen says.

- The curriculum of the double degree programme is the result of a long term domestic and international cooperation , says Lintunen. She considers a double degree programme to be a challenging form of cooperation, which requires good mutual knowledge, trust and close communication between partner universities. - The programme was developed for example by comparing and sharing each university’s educational strengths and good practices. In addition, the network has developed new joint study modules and study material. The long cooperation has made the teachers a well-functioning team and offered them a peer support network, Lintunen adds.

Each year Finnish and international students holding a B.Sc. in Sport Science, Psychology or Social Psychology are accepted in the Master’s Degree Programme in Sport and Exercise Psychology. The first round of applications begins in the end of this year and the studies begin in 2010. The tight scheduled, 120 study point programme lasts for two years and includes studies in at least two of the network’s universities.


Further information:


Academic Planner Anna-Maria Strengell
tel. 014 260 2062, emsep-mundus@sport.jyu.fi

Professor Taru Lintunen
tel. 014 260 2113, taru.lintunen@sport.jyu.fi

Head of International Office Tuija Koponen
tel. 014 260 1086, tuija.h.koponen@jyu.fi