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Issued:05/03/13
Students with their eye on a career in football will be given a great chance of promotion thanks to a jobs link-up with Championship side Sheffield Wednesday.
The partnership between the Owls and Sheffield Hallam University, one of the leading providers of sports courses across the UK, will see around 25 students given year-long work placements at Hillsborough during their degree programmes.
Students from undergraduate and postgraduate courses run by Sheffield Hallam's Academy of Sport and Physical Activity including Sport and Exercise Science, Sport Coaching, Sport Business Management, Sport Journalism and Physiotherapy will be able to apply for 25 work-based learning opportunities based at Wednesday next season.
Many of the successful students will find themselves working on the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), a youth development scheme initiated by The Premier League to increase the number and quality of home-grown players gaining professional contracts in clubs and playing first-team football at the highest level.
The students will work alongside the club’s expertly qualified staff within sport science, physiotherapy, match analysis and coaching at both academy and first-team level.
Sheffield Wednesday has a long history of employing graduates from Sheffield Hallam, but never in the numbers now guaranteed to be at the club's Hillsborough ground next season.
Rob Wilson, head of external relations for Sheffield Hallam's Academy of Sport and Physical Activity, said: "As an academic institution we are really pleased to have established a close working relationship with one of the most historic football clubs in England.
"The knowledge and skills our students will gain from their internship placements at the club will be invaluable when forging a career within the elite sports industry.
"It will involve collaboration across not only sport science but also physiotherapy and coaching and will enable the club to benefit from the excellent students we have on our books.
"Such a relationship will allow for the close collaboration of expertise and facilities for the mutual benefit of both parties."
Carl Wells, academy head of sport science and medicine, added: "The initiative between ourselves and Sheffield Hallam has been highly successful. The calibre of the students who have already worked at the academy has been very high. The enthusiasm and commitment to further themselves have been qualities we have been able to harness for the benefit of the sport science department and academy as a whole.”
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Dean Ramsdale, academy manager for Sheffield Wednesday, added: “The interaction between ourselves and Sheffield Hallam is something I am very excited about. Any advantage we can gain through employing students will help Sheffield Wednesday FC academy become one of the most progressive in the country.”
Sheffield Hallam is a world-leader in the business of sport and provides top quality sport education for one of the largest student cohorts of sport in the UK with 1500 undergraduates, 100 postgraduates and many PhD students.
Regionally, the University is developing partnerships with all of the professional sport clubs to provide placements and volunteering opportunities across all aspects of their business. All sport students at the University undergo a placement with an employer in industry.
As well as sport education, consultation and training, Sheffield Hallam produces unique, world-class sports research thanks to its three research centres; Centre for Sports and Exercise Science, Sport Industry Research Centre and the Centre for Sports Engineering Research.
For press information contact: Laurie Harvey on 0114 225 2621 or email pressoffice@shu.ac.uk
