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Home News 31st FISU General Assembly in Belgrade – Day 1

31st FISU General Assembly in Belgrade – Day 1

FISU 28 June 2009

The 31st FISU General Assembly is taking place on June 28th and June 29th. The first day of this biennial meeting started with a number of administrational duties such as accreditation, the delegates’ roll call, the nomination of the scrutineers and approval of the agenda. As this edition was not an elective assembly, focus was on the achievements of the current EC after two years in function, halfway its mandate.

During the morning session the attending FISU members listened to the reports of the President, the Secretary General, the Treasurer and the Internal and External Auditor.

Openness and transparency were the key words of President Killian’s report to the General Assembly. ‘During and after the conclusion of the 30th General Assembly, I made a number of promises to you and these became challenges’, Mr. Killian said to the attending members. ‘The most important challenge for me was to make all actions of FISU transparent to assure the member associations a better comprehension of the decisions made by the EC. Mr. Killian also underlined his personal implication in the development program of the Continental Associations. This program outlined by the Committee for the Development of University Sport (CDSU) has as its objectives since its creation in 2007 to structure the contacts between FISU and these Continental Associations, to become associate members of FISU (under certain conditions). Up to now, four Continental Associations have a representative in the FISU EC, i.e. AUSF (Asia), EUSA (Europe), FASU (Afrika) and ODUPA (America).

‘Since the General Assembly in Bangkok, in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, the new FISU Executive Committee and FISU Staff spent significant time to put in place the new structure of FISU’, FISU Secretary-General Eric Saintrond told the FISU MA delegates. ‘Thanks to the great cooperation and assistance of our National University Sports Associations and the dynamism of the leaders of these organizations, we have been able to improve the performance and the efficiency of the FISU Secretariat. We have also been able to develop a higher level of collaboration with the Organizing Committees of our events. The importance of the university sports movement and its place in the sports and educational world depends on the quality and diversity of its activities. The keen interest demonstrated in the organization of our sports and educational events is proof that FISU has experienced significant growth’ Mr. Saintrond concluded his report.

After lunch the attending members received the report of the Development Committee by Chair Stefan Bergh. ‘By concluding the Continental University Sports Federations as full members of FISU with the status of Associate Members in 2007, it was crucial to develop a stronger two-way communication between the FISU Secretariat and the administrators of the Associate Members’, Mr. Bergh said. ‘This relation is a key factor in developing projects, to better promote the activities taking place and to better fulfill the needs of each partner. FISU considers the role of the MA as a mediator between specific areas of interest and FISU’, Mr. Bergh added. Objectives which have been set are the consolidation and development of the general secretariats of the FISU Associate Members, the systematization of the relations between the FISU AM secretariats and the FISU Secretariat, optimizing the evaluation and follow-up of projects, increasing the FISU attendance to the FISU AM activities, developing the common means of promotion of University Sport, to increase the cooperation for the membership program and develop a plan to increase the efficiency of the help program.

Then the floor was given to Verena Burk, Chair of the Women’s Committee to give a report on its activities. The Committee made a survey among the FISU Membership regarding the situation of women in the university sport movement. The suggestions that resulted from this survey where the following: equal number of competitive opportunities, development program for female competition officials, workshops, forums, conferences and round table discussions, scholarship programs, guidelines for the NUSFs, reserved positions in the FISU committees, special focus on women and sport in different cultures and encouragement of women for candidatures in leadership roles.

It was with great pride that the Women’s Committee announced the winner of the first ‘FISU Women and Sport Award’ which went to the ‘Tandem Project’ from ADH, the German National University Sport Federation. Nico Sperle, ADH President received the Award from President Killian. ‘We at ADH are very happy to win this award. We need urgently more women in University Sport. I can assure you that the ladies who run this project will be very proud of this prize.

Tomorrow, June 29th, the General Assembly will continue its second day of meetings.