2_1_DiscoverGermany_August2014_Issue17:Scan Magazine 1
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Moving on up: A career in sport starts in Cologne The German Sport University is Europe’s largest university entirely devoted to sport and exercise science, representing the whole range of subdisciplines from competitive sports to health-orientated exercise. TEXT: SONJA IRANI | PHOTOS: GERMAN SPORT UNIVERSITY
The sole university of its kind in Germany, it was founded in 1947 and features 21 institutes covering everything from education and humanities to social sciences and biomedicine. A further four affiliate institutes and nine special research and service centres complete its profile and the university is the current academic home to over 5,300 students from 62 different countries. The multinational academic environment is second to none. In contrast to other universities, the German Sport University Cologne offers a unique blend of sport and
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exercise science research, making it the ideal platform for aspiring sport and exercise industry professionals, who each benefit from its inspiring interdisciplinary environment for studies and research alike. Space research, public health topics, antidoping research and scientific training matters, as well as the psychological and philosophical dimensions of each topic are all part of the university’s academic agenda. “The huge range of expertise in the fields of sport and exercise science that
we have here and the spatial proximity between disciplines we share are an enormous advantage. The inter- and transdisciplinary approach and the opportunity to shed light upon relevant societal topics from various perspectives is unique within Europe,” explains President Professor Dr. Heiko Strüder, who was recently appointed as the new president and is determined to expand the range and impact of research activities even further. From space to supercups When it comes to research, space is the limit for the German Sport University Cologne. In-house scientists have examined the exercise programmes of astronauts to counteract zero gravity for years and the findings are invaluable when it comes to public