professor david shilbury foundation chair of sports management deakin university australia was recently in india he talks to ruchi kumar on why india will need more sport management professionals in the near futurewhat is the purpose of your visit to india i am in india to run two capacitybuilding workshops in delhi and mumbai for academics and practitioners with an interest in developing sport management programmes in indian business schools the workshops are a result of a successful australia india council grant to foster australia india relations through in this case providing leadership and direction in relation to curriculum for sport management programmes deakin university is the grant holder and therefore the knowledge partner with austrade and confederation of indian industry ciiis sports management a viable career option in india india is a sportloving country with a passion for cricket hockey and several other sports with a population predicted to grow to 15 billion by 2050 and a middle class of around 500600 million there will be a rapid escalation in demand to participate in sport qualified sport management professionals will be required to help plan for this demand for management of programmes by national and local sporting organisations facilities etc not to mention the growing range of professional sport and clubs which will also employ more staff as they grow although at present sport management is viewed as a nontraditional career path it is expected to change in the next three decades this is why we are targeting bschools to embed sport management programmes as business degrees so that graduates have options to work in both business and sport i see an advantage for graduates working in both general business and learning important skills for sport business managementat a glance intakes to the deakin courses are for march and july but applications will be accepted any time in the 12 months beforehand distant courses are offered through the online platform cloud deakin meritorious applications are offered scholarships and bursaries for key courses the scholarships and bursaries range from aud 2500 to aud 7000