The agreement was signed at TelstraClear Events Centre by CIES President Bertrand Reeb, CIES Senior Manager International Relations Vincent Monnier, OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas and Football Federation American Samoa President Alex Iuli Godinet.
Tai Nicholas says OFC will help to sponsor young people to go through the new programme.
“OFC is committed to helping young people through sport and education so this is an ideal partnership for us,” said Nicholas.
“We look forward to working closely with CIES and FIFA to deliver this academic programme which will build capacity and improve the professionalism of sports organisations across the Pacific.”
Vincent Monnier addressed the almost 800 participants involved in the conference on Tuesday giving further details about the course.
“The sports management programme provides students with the opportunity to learn a broad range of subjects and develop their analytical skills to cope with the fast changing trends in the sports industry,” said Monnier.
“It is broken down into six key areas including: finance, law, management, marketing, communications and event management.”
CIES was created in 1995 as a joint venture between FIFA and the University of Neuchâtel and City and State of Neuchatel. Since then it has established 13 partnerships in 12 countries.
“The theory is the same no matter where the course is delivered but the application will changed depending on the needs specific to each country,” Monnier added.
Using a multi-disciplinary approach CIES provides research, top-level education and consulting services to the sports world. In partnership with OFC and FIFA, they will look to align with tertiary providers across the Pacific to implement the programme.
It follows OFC’s announcement that a funding boost of $US 100,000 will help implement the best projects drawn up during the Pacific Youth and Sports Conference (PYASC), which kicked off in Manukau on Monday.