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International Management for TOP-Athletes (Bachelor)

This program was crafted by Professor Heesen together with the Olympic Centers in Germany in 2003. The following years were used to finalize the design and finding a university that was willing to support this program. In March 2006 the first thirty students, all members of the German National Team, enrolled in Ansbach. A unique characteristic of the program is that only current and former members of the German national team, also fulfilling the regular requirements for enrollment at universities, can enroll in this program.

The program leverages a Blended-Learning approach, maximizing guided independent learning complemented with residencies. The design of the program was influenced by the fact that Professor Heesen's dissertation covered the topic of E-Learning at institutions of higher education in Germany. With the start of this program the university also started to leverage several new E-Learning tools like a learning management system (Ilias) and an online library (EbscoHost) besides others.

Currently more than 100 students from all regions in Germany are enrolled in the program and more than 300 national team athletes already enrolled in the program since its inception. While they are preparing for future success in the business world, these students have already won seven Olympic Gold medals and more than 30 Gold medals at World Championships.