The International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) first virtual World Forum ended with the closing ceremony held on Friday afternoon when 2022 World Forum host Costa Rica took over the FISU flag from Hungary. The online event saw a record number of attendees and many relevant topics were discussed.
Friday saw the final day of the 2020 FISU World Forum held at the University of Physical Education (UPE), Budapest between 12 and 14 August, 2020. Due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, the event was staged online for the first time in FISU’s history. In addition to UPE, Hungarian University Sports Federation (HUSF), technology provider Digital Success Programme (DSP) and FISU representatives also took an active role in the organisation and implementation.
As a result of the intensive preparation work, nearly 1,500 university students and teachers from a total of 105 countries participated in the event, while an additional 1,000 who have not registered visited the programmes. During the three-day Forum, seven roundtable discussions and fifteen workshops were held in total. The main theme of the 2020 World Forum was 70 years of FISU, while sub-themes included Health and University Sports, Inclusion and University Sport, and Challenges for University Sports including Digitalization, University Rankings, University Sports during Covid-19.
On the final day of the event, Inclusion in University Sports was in the centre of the roundtable discussion. Marius Vizer, International Judo Federation President highlighted that judo is a sport that is extremely easy to access for all. From young children to even old people all age groups get actively involved in judo in 200 countries worldwide.
After the workshops, the seven student projects developed in the theme of Promoting Positive Impacts of University Sport on the Health and Wellbeing of Students as Tomorrow’s Leaders were also presented, and the five-member jury awarded the two winners with the first prize.
At the beginning of the closing ceremony, the Chair of FISU Education Committee Dr. Verena Burk, Vice-Chair of FISU's Education Committee Sami Garabedian, and FISU Student Committee member Viktor Kiss made their final conclusions of the Forum. Dr. Verena Burk welcomed that a great number of people registered for the Forum, nearly 1,500, of which 600 were students, thus the event has managed to reach its goal by bringing together students and officials to the same digital platform to exchange their views on the most relevant issues related to university sport.
Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Mr. Balázs Hankó held his speech at the premises while former President of the Hungarian University Sport Federation Dr. Ádám Kiss sent a video message. FISU President Mr. Oleg Matytsin delivered his speech live through the digital platform. The President thanked UPE and HUSF for their commitment to the digital Forum and she was grateful for FISU representatives having been involved in the implementation.
Then the FISU flag was virtually handed over to the Organising Committee of the 2022 Costa Rica FISU World Forum and the next host country was presented in a video.
To close the event, rector of the Costa Rica Institute of Technology, Paulino Méndez addressed the audience in a video message, and finally Costa Rican First Vice President Ms. Epsy Campbell greeted the attendees in a live speech.
As a last step, 2020 FISU World Forum Organising Committee leader and moderator of the closing ceremony Mr. Dániel Mezei closed the event.
„Ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, I hope you have enjoyed FISU’s first digital Forum. Thank you all for attending the online event, it has been a great pleasure to have you here. I wish you all the best and I hope you will also participate in the next Forum to be held in Costa Rica in 2022.”
photo: Gergely Vidor
