Characteristics of Sport Science Undergraduate Courses: Reflections on Coach Education.

The topic of education of professionals working in sport has generated great interest in the academic environment. Evidence of this is the International Council for Coaching Excellence Standards for Higher Education Sport Coaching Bachelor Degrees. However, it must be noted that the notion of education for professionals in sport varies in different contexts and countries. In this sense, a possible approach to establishing common characteristics is the analysis of curricula in sport sciences. The purpose of this exploratory study is to identify the areas of knowledge covered by undergraduate courses related to sport. The methodology utilized was content analysis. Higher-education institutions from websites such as QS World University, Times Higher Education, World University Ranking, and Best Global Education were selected. The sample comprised thirty-nine universities and ninety-nine courses located in all continents. Subsequently, the websites of these universities were investigated to collect information about the undergraduate courses. The coding scheme recorded the characteristics of the courses. The results indicate a diversity of approaches regarding sport sciences and an apparent prevalence of academic disciplines related to biology, psychology and sociocultural issues. Based on the data, we present the characteristics of the courses, considering the ICCE Sport Degree standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]