On Wednesday, September 13, 2023, a new global university network for sport, the Global Sport University Network (GSUN), was launched and held its inaugural meeting.
GSUN, jointly co-initiated by the University of Oregon in the United States and Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, is a university network that aims to strengthen cooperation among universities involved in education and research about sport around the world in order to help solve global issues.
GSUN’s objectives (excerpt from the website)
The GSUN is a collective of universities from around the world that harnesses knowledge on sport to solve timely, complex problems. GSUN aggregates research, faculty insights and student energy to address topics that no one university could fully address on its own.
To launch the network, 10 Council Members from nine countries on six continents met up at the inaugural meeting held at Loughborough University in the UK.
Waseda University’s Professor Hirotaka Matsuoka, Senior Dean of the Faculty of Sport Sciences, and Professor Hiroaki Masaki, Deputy Dean for International Affairs, from the Faculty of Sport Sciences, attended the meeting as representatives from Japan.
A day-long discussion was held regarding the mission statement and objectives of GSUN, the cooperation among member universities, and the plans for future activities.
At the meeting, Waseda University, in collaboration with the University of Oregon, made a proposal for Student Mobility.
The partnership between Waseda University and the University of Oregon is a long one, starting with an agreement signed with the Oregon State University Association in 1977, followed by a bilateral agreement in 2017 for student exchange.
In addition to this agreement, the Faculty of Sport Sciences signed a departmental agreement in 2019 with the German Sport University Cologne, which also participates as a council member at GSUN, and conducts student exchange programs.
The two universities introduced these achievements and followed it with a proposal for study abroad exchanges that qualify for credit transfer among GSUN member universities. They also touched on the possibility of short-term programs including internships, sports practice, and field research on the theme of sports.
Professor Hirotaka Matsuoka, Senior Dean of the College of Sport Sciences, and Professor Dennis Galvan, Vice Provost of the University of Oregon, giving the presentation.
The following 10 universities comprise the GSUN’s council members: (in descending alphabetical order by university name)
| German Sport University Cologne |
| Loughborough University |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Nanyang Technological University |
| University of British Columbia |
| University of Cape Town |
| University of Oregon |
| University of Queensland |
| University of São Paulo |
| Waseda University |
Future GSUN activities include an annual Summit scheduled for 2024 at the University of Oregon.
In addition to the 10 universities that are council members, GSUN plans to collaborate with the participating universities, government institutions, sports-related organizations, industry, media, and other sectors.
