“Certificate for Educational Institutions supporting Dual Careers of Athletes,” also known as Athletes Friendly Education (AFE), is a two-year project aimed at promoting dual careers for athletes. The idea behind the project is to support and motivate educational institutions to make their programs more “athlete-friendly” and therefore more accessible to elite athletes.
The project officially started in January 2019 and ran until December 2021. The BOIC is the Belgian partner in this European collaboration coordinated by the National Olympic Committee of Slovenia. Naturally, the BOIC works closely with various partners in Belgium who focus on dual careers and elite sports within the different communities. The project receives financial support from the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.
Even after the end of this project, the BOIC wants to pay more attention to complementary initiatives in elite sports that positively contribute to the further development of athletes. Therefore, it awards the AFE Award to higher education institutions that promote athlete-friendly education in Belgium. These institutions can submit an application with an initiative/program via an open AFE candidate platform during the application period. An AFE jury then selects one initiative/program from the submitted projects as the winner. This choice is subsequently submitted for approval to the BOIC Board of Directors, and the AFE Award is officially presented during the BOIC General Assembly.
Winners of the AFE Award may use the exclusive AFE Award logo in specific communications about the winning initiative/program to further promote the athlete-friendly environment.
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Since 2022, the BOIC AFE Award has been presented several times to the following initiatives/programs:
- “De dienst topsport & studie” of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, represented by Paul Wylleman.
- “Le Service des sports de l'Université Catholique de Louvain” of the Université Catholique de Louvain, represented by Thierry Zintz.
- “The Bachelor’s program in Business Management – specialization in Sports Management – full-time and distance learning” of Vives Hogeschool, represented by Tania Corbanie.
For more information about the project, visit:
http://athletes.friendly.edu.olympic.si
Within the BOIC, Nicky Van Rossem, as Athlete Pathway Manager, oversees this project:
n.vanrossem@olympic.be
