The general aim is for students to acquire advanced scientific knowledge in the field of motor activity with particular emphasis on the technical-sports field. The Masters degree will offer the knowledge and skills to plan, conduct, handle and assess sports motor activity, both amateur and professional, while also providing students with the knowledge and skills to teach motor and sports activity.

The specific course aims will be to: attain an advanced level of competence in terms of theory, methodological and training techniques in individual and team disciplines; learn the measurement methods and tools to evaluate sport, including technical consultations and testing of goods and services used; learn the methods to evaluate physical and sports performance and how to make use of and evaluate the results quantitatively relative to the various disciplines; provide knowledge of the context of gender, age and the objectives of the person practising the sport; consider the institutional contexts in which sports activities are collocated; understand the problems related to the learning and teaching processes and methodologies, the features of cognitive, affective and personal development in adolescence; learn the teaching methods related to the field of the disciplinary structures of motor activity; and plan, propose and handle programmes and standards of motor activity in children and adolescents.

To reach these objectives a lot of scope will be given to the theoretical and practical teaching of motor and sport disciplines (MEDF/02). There will also be modules covering the technological and methodological issues on how to measure sports performance quantitatively (ING-INF/06) and there will be a bias towards the pedagogic issues over the psychological in psychological-pedagogic disciplines. As well as specific skills offered by the reference faculty (Medicine & Surgery), the Faculty of Engineering ensures the specific methodological, technological and experimental skills with reference to the planning and development of tools for motor analysis, the quantitative analysis of movement and the evaluation of athletic ability in sport in order to optimise results. The course will be enhanced with courses on nutrition and the principles of dieting (MED/49); paediatrics (MED/38); the skills traditionally used in studying politico-institutional and socio-cultural phenomena related to the history of physical education and sport (MED/02, M-PED/02, M-STO/04); and the hygiene and safety of sports centres and swimming pools (MED/42 and ING-IND/35). The course will be taught by: frontal lessons and seminars; meetings with experts in the field and prominent professionals; technical and practical demonstrations in the field; individual activity-based classes with the use of advanced analysis tools to measure physical fitness; the writing of original reports on the disciplines and techniques studied; placements in partner organisation qualified in the different disciplines and including the possibility of international study.

Graduates from the Masters course may find employment in: the planning, co-ordination, running and management of private and public bodies at a competitive level: the planning, co-ordination and running of training programmes in various sports and levels, up to professional level, at associations and sports clubs, sports promoters, institutions and specialised centres; the planning and co-ordination of sports clubs, organisations, recreational and social associations and in sports tourism; in teaching physical education. Possible employment for graduates (Decree on courses, Art. 3, comma 7) concern: the planning, co-ordination, running and management of private and public bodies at a competitive level: the planning, co-ordination and running of training programmes in various sports and levels, up to professional level, at associations and sports clubs, sports promoters, institutions and specialised centres; the planning and co-ordination of sports clubs, organisation, recreational and social associations and in sports tourism; and in teaching physical education. Employment in: public and private bodies in the field of competitive sport at all levels and tourist-recreational services like gyms, swimming pools, socio-educational centres, hotels, thermal baths and wellness centres, and wherever individual or group courses are run; public and private schools that comply with the current legislation on teaching physical education and sport.