Russia To Introduce a Register of Student Sports Clubs

The digital platform, which will contain records of all student sports clubs, leagues, and contests, will be set up within the national portal of student sports developed by ITMO University. As of now, the platform has 3,000 registered users from 700 sports units. 

“Known as a national and global leader in IT and a seven-time champion in competitive programming, ITMO was offered a chance to create a student sports portal a few years ago, and we released the finished product at the start of this academic year. We will keep doing our best to make it as convenient and secure as possible, including for maintaining a single register of sports clubs”, said Evgenii Raskin, ITMO’s Vice Rector for Youth Policy. 

As noted by Evgenia Bychkova, the Executive Director of the Association of Student Sports Clubs of Russia, the register is meant to help identify a lack of clubs in certain regions, as well as digitize the data about existing clubs, thus enhancing the development and promotion of student sports among youth in the country. The platform will be maintained by the Association of Student Sports Clubs of Russia.

“The developed platform will provide an analysis and assessment of the current situation in student sports that authorities and public organizations can rely on when making a range of political decisions. For instance, according to the Intersectoral Program on Student Sports Development, all Russian universities are required to establish student sports clubs by 2024. To see whether or not that’s possible, we have to determine which universities don’t have their own clubs yet – and here the register comes to our rescue. Later on, it can be used to keep regular records of the clubs. It is likely that the clubs will have to go through an annual reassessment so that the database remains up-to-date,” explained Evgenia Bychkova.

The register’s developers plan to start issuing registration numbers at the beginning of 2023. This way, they will be able to gather all the necessary information about student sports clubs: their number, locations, types, organizers, and so on. Those who would like to join the register are required to fill out an application form, which is soon to appear on the national student sports portal, as well as submit their application and founding documents. 

On December 1-2, ITMO University hosted the ninth national forum on topical issues concerning student sports, where participants had the chance to exchange their experiences and discuss problems associated with sports at universities. The forum covered a range of topics: the establishment of student sports clubs, state support programs, and the role of novel technologies in student sports. The on-site part of the event brought together over 400 participants from various regions, including representatives of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Russian Ministry of Sport, the government of St. Petersburg, university rectors, and heads of student sports leagues and clubs.

The forum’s program also included workshops on media promotion and management, seminars and lectures on the development of sports initiatives and technologies, foresight sessions and discussions on sports infrastructure at universities, as well as opportunities for networking, jogging, and attending publicly recorded podcasts.