Psychology of sport programme at UNN
In September 2021, the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport (FPES) at Lobachevsky University launched a Master's degree programme in Psychology of Sport, Physical Education and Healthy Lifestyle. An agreement on the network programme was signed by Elena Zagaynova, UNN Rector, and Nikolai Izov, Rector of the Vasil Levski National Sports Academy in Sofia (Bulgaria).
Under this agreement, Master's programme students will be able to learn from the experience of Russian sports psychologists and from the experience of working with national teams of Bulgaria. They will also study the methodology and scientific approaches in the field of psychology of sports in Europe and Russia. Upon completion of this international programme, students will receive two Master’s diplomas.
According to Svetlana Sokolovskaya, Deputy Dean of the UNN FPES, who is the programme director, the course involves the study of the latest interdisciplinary aspects at the junction of psychology with psychophysiology, acmeology, sports sciences and practices of sports activities.
"This new programme is aimed at training professional psychologists, first and foremost, psychologists for professional teams and sports clubs. Their function is to provide psychological help in achieving high results in top-level sports. We also train psychologists for physical education and sport organisations who will contribute to improving mass sports performance and to the adaptation of children just starting out in their sporting careers, they will also work very closely with coaches and parents. Besides, the programme aims to train healthy lifestyle counsellors (which is a highly sought-after field), research psychologists in sport psychology whose careers will be connected with research institutes and universities, as well as coaches with a profound knowledge of psychology," says Svetlana Sokolovskaya.
Currently, there are 30 students on the programme. All details about the programme and admission rules can be found on the website.
