UNC Sport Administration Program Also Ranks No. 3 in the World in “Return on Investment”
For the first time, the graduate program in Sport Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been ranked among the top five graduate programs in sport business in the world.
According to the 2023 SportBusiness Postgraduate Course Rankings, the program ranks No. 3 globally. Details on the selection criteria for the rankings are available here.
This year’s ranking caps a meteoric rise up the rankings for the program, which in its first three years participating ranked 11th (2020), 11th (2021), and 8th (2022) on a global basis.
For the second consecutive year, the program ranked among the top three in the world in “Return on Investment (ROI).” The program was also tied for 2nd globally in employment status at 12 months, 5th in providing opportunities for networking with industry executives, and tied for 6th in quality of faculty. The program also ranks 5th globally in “Graduate’s Choice,” a measure based on student satisfaction scores and reflective of alumni satisfaction.
“Our graduate program in Sport Administration continues to excel as one of the top programs in North America and the world, and does an excellent job of preparing the next generation of leaders in the field,” said Troy Blackburn, Professor and Chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science (EXSS). “The continued, perennial success and ranking of the program speaks to the expertise, experience, and hard work of the Sport Administration faculty and our outstanding students.”
“UNC’s Sport Administration graduate program is dedicated to educating the next generation of college sports professionals, and we congratulate them on this much-deserved honor,” said Bubba Cunningham, Director of Athletics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Carolina Athletics is proud to partner with the program.”
The graduate program in Sport Administration, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last academic year, merges a diverse academic curriculum, which includes graduate courses in sport administration, analytics, economics/finance, event management, marketing, and law, with experiential work experience within the UNC athletic department, culminating in a year-long internship within the Department of Athletics in the second year of the program. The program also offers dual degree programs in law (MA/JD) and business (MA/MBA), in conjunction with the School of Law and the Kenan-Flagler Business School, respectively.
“From its inception as the first graduate program to focus solely on college athletics, the University of North Carolina Sport Administration Graduate Program has been a model of cross-campus collaboration, experiential education, and cutting-edge research,” noted Professor and Graduate Coordinator Barbara Osborne. “Our faculty are leaders in their areas of specialization, bringing their extensive experience in the field as well as cutting edge research into the classroom. Our alumni are innovative leaders in college athletics and beyond who have stayed engaged as mentors, research partners, and advocates. The UNC athletics department provides unmatched administrative internship opportunities for our students, who are amazing in their own right.”