Sports Management

Sports management is the discipline concerned with how sporting organisations are run, how sporting events are planned and delivered, and how the sport and leisure sector more broadly is structured, financed, and governed. It combines management principles drawn from business education with a detailed understanding of the unique characteristics of sport as an industry, where fan loyalty, broadcast rights, sponsorship, and the performance of athletes create dynamics very different from conventional commercial markets. Sports managers need both commercial acumen and a deep familiarity with how sport works from the inside.

At the University of the Highlands and Islands, this four-year full-time programme is taught across a network of colleges and learning centres that extends across the Highlands, Islands, and parts of northern Scotland, a distinctive educational geography that reflects UHI's mission to serve a dispersed and often rural student population. You will study management principles, sports business and marketing, event management, sports governance, sport development policy, and the economics of sport, developing the analytical and practical skills that careers in the sector require. The Highlands and Islands context provides an unusual perspective on sport management, with its mix of traditional Highland sports, outdoor recreation, and community-based sporting culture.

A typical entry tariff of 104 points makes the programme broadly accessible.

Graduates of sports management programmes work as event managers, sports development officers, sports administrators, marketing executives, venue managers, and in the commercial and operational functions of professional sport clubs and governing bodies. The sector spans professional sport, community sport, national governing bodies, local authorities, and the outdoor recreation and leisure industry. Further study at master's level in sports management, event management, or sports business is available for those who want to develop specialist expertise or move into senior roles.