Athletic migration: Dual Career and qualification in sports

Migration across borders in the European Union (EU) is a requirement in many elite sports and a crucial challenge for student-athletes (pursuing a Dual Career; DC). Policies vary across Europe and the existing support structures are not capable to overcome exchange obstacles. The insufficient support for migrating student-athletes is a major risk of decreased performances or drop-outs in education and sports. The AMiD project, therefore, aimed to assess and improve the current DC situation and migration opportunities in the EU. Academic partner institutions from five different European countries, each associated with one to two non-academic partners from the sports or DC sectors at national or European levels, plus the European Students as Athletes network represented the AMiD project team to conduct this project from 01/2018 until 12/2020.The first step was the assessment of the current situation. In holistic fashion, multiple activities were implemented for this step during 2018: First, the existing literature (scientific papers as well as reports and other documents from the field) was reviewed. Second, current practices, regulations, and limitations at national levels were collected from all partner countries. Third, a questionnaire was developed and data on DC migration experiences and intentions were collected from student-athletes in all partner institutions and, using a condensed version of the same questionnaire, at the EUSA games 2018 where student-athletes from whole Europe participated. Around 300 student-athletes participated in this study. The data were statistically analyzed, and a scientific paper is under review at the international, peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE (as of 01/2021). The results showed that DC migration is indeed highly relevant in student-athletes with around 50% of the sample having pursued one. However, severe obstacles and risks were noted. It was found that these risks, the emerging needs, and the successful outcomes can be clustered depending on various specific factors (e.g. type of sports). These findings allow, for the first time, to optimize preparations before the beginning of a DC migration specifically for the needs of an individual case based on the individual’s DC and migration characteristics.The second step was to summarize, based on this information, support services that seemed promising in tackling the revealed obstacles and are feasible in the project’s academic institutions during the project’s lifetime specifically and in foreign institutions beyond the lifetime generally. Services included tutoring to set-up academic and sports plans, access to facilities, connection to peers, flexibility in scheduling, and adapting exam modalities.All academic partners used individually optimized strategies to recruit student-athletes for a migration pilot phase to provide and assess support services that are suitable for the student-athletes. A total number of 23 student-athletes migrated between the partner institutions, received specific support services, and provided data on their experience before and after the intervention. The length of the intervention was up to 6 months. This phase was implemented as planned before 2020 and was, therefore, unaffected by the pandemic. The evaluation revealed the best practices and improved the specifications of what services are most required and helpful. The activity also established a network of experienced migration collaboration between sports and academic institutions that maintains beyond the project’s lifetime thanks to cost-efficient services and beyond initial project partners thanks to the inclusion of project partners in international networks and publications in these networks.