Department of Olympic and Professional Sports, Sports Games and Tourism

The Department of Olympic and Professional Sports, Sports Games and Tourism is a component part of the Physical Education and Sports Faculty of H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University.

The Department of Olympic and Professional Sports, Sports Games and Tourism offers a degree program in the specialty 017 “Physical Culture and Sports” in the educational-professional program Physical Culture and Sports for the first (Bachelor’s Degree) and second (Master’s Degree) levels of higher education. Students who obtain this specialty can work in any field of physical culture and sports.

Students obtain the qualification of a coach in the following chosen sport:

for Bachelor’s Degree Students: basketball, volleyball, handball, badminton, football, futsal, tourism, climbing.

for Master’s Degree Students: all kinds of sports represented in Sports Federations of Ukraine.

The staff of the department provides educational, scientific, sports, and organizational work in the following fields:

1. Development, implementation, the teaching of theoretical foundations of Olympic and professional sports, planning of the training process, the basics of rehabilitation, etc.
2. Development, implementation, the teaching of theoretical and methodological bases of team sports: Basketball, Volleyball, Football, Futsal, Handball;
3. Development, implementation, the teaching of theoretical and methodological foundations of Sports and Health Tourism, Local History (Lore), Recreation, and Rehabilitation.

The Department of Olympic and Professional Sports, Sports Games and Tourism is one of the leading scientific departments of the university. In 2018, the department was recognized as the best in scientific work in the H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. Every year monographs, textbooks, etc. written by the staff of the department are published in foreign scientific editions. The average number of publications in editions that indexing in Scopus and Web of Science Database is 10–15 articles and publications annually. The average number of the staff publications in leading professional scientific journals is 15–30 articles and publications annually.

For more than ten years, the staff of the department has managed the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine scientific themes; since 2012, the department has repeatedly won grants from the Ministry of Education and Science for financing state budget themes.

The department is one of the leaders in the professional training of scientific personnel in Ukraine:

• over the past ten years, more than 30 students have become winners and prizewinners of the All-Ukrainian competition of student research papers;
• 90 % of Master’s Degree Students have publications in Professional Scientific Journals approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Also, students have publications in journals and editions that indexing in Scopus and Web of Science Database.

More than 15 candidates of sciences (Ph.D.) are prepared at the department; three doctoral dissertations (thesis) are defended.

The staff of the department consists of 1 Doctor of Sciences, Full Professor, 3 Candidates of Sciences, Associate Professors, 4 Senior Teachers, 1 Senior teacher as an Associate Professor, 1 Honored Master of Sports, 6 Candidates for Master of Sports.

There are the faculty and the university combined teams in Basketball, Volleyball, Football, Futsal, Handball, Tourism, and Rock Climbing at the department.