17/04/2023

Recently (Wednesday, 12 April 2023) a multi–nation delegation of sport executive students swapped their state-of-the-art lecture room at the Nelson Mandela University High Performance Centre, Gqeberha, for a much-anticipated visit to one of the oldest newspapers in South Africa, The Herald.

 The students – coming from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya and various provinces in South Africa - are currently enrolled in a prestigious Executive Sport Management Programme, facilitated by Nelson Mandela University in collaboration with FIFA and the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).  

Nelson Mandela University is one of only three universities on the African continent that offers the FIFA/CIES/ Executive Programme in Sport Management, with the other universities located in Senegal and Egypt.

Alvin Reeves, the Sport Editor for the Herald, Daily Dispatch, Weekend Post and Saturday Dispatch, gave the group of students some great insights into the organisational structure, products, platforms and editorial processes of the Eastern Cape media. Reeves and his team also shared with the group how the newspaper has evolved over the years and how they continue to develop their products and services to cater to the needs of their readers.

“We are busy with the Communications Module of the programme and it is fascinating to see how a media house like The Herald implements the strategies that we have learnt the past week, in their daily operations,” said one of the students in the Executive Sport Management Programme, Michael Anguzu.

Communications Module facilitator Cindy Preller said it was a great experience to share a tour of the city’s oldest newspaper with the students. “No matter where we are situated on the continent, sport remains one of the most exciting and most consumed media subjects because of the love readers, listeners and viewers have for sport. Demystifying the media landscape and encouraging positive media relations for sporting organisations were some of the goals of our sessions,” said Preller.

Students from the Executive Sport Management Programme, facilitated by Nelson Mandela University in collaboration with FIFA and the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), visited The Herald recently. Pictured with the students are The Herald/ Weekend Post Editor Rochelle de Kock (front row, fourth from the left) and Sport Editor Alvin Reeves (back row, third from the left)