Last week, the DOSB and FAU celebrated the official launch of the scheme entitled "Berufsbegleitenenden Bachelorstudiengang Sportwissenschaft".

It will be available for people who are involved in sport and also possess specific DOSB licenses entitled "B-, A- and diploma-trainer" and it is hoped the scheme will provide them with a new career prospect in the labour market through a university degree.

"We want to open up the possibility for people who have acquired a qualification through DOSB licensing," said DOSB vice-president of Education and Olympic Education Gudrun Doll-Tepper.

"They will be able to acquire a basic sports science qualification.

"At the same time, we want to make these competencies, which are acquired in our training, transparent and comparable, so that they are more recognised in society.

"We are very pleased that we have won the FAU as a partner in order to pursue this great goal together."

According to the DOSB, it has becoming increasingly difficult for young people to get involved as a coach or trainer in an association, because less and less time is spent concentrating on their studies.

It is hoped the scheme and new course of studies can provide a greater incentive to volunteer.

Using information from polls they have conducted, the DOSB said that young people in Germany lead the way in both active participation and voluntary work.

DOSB and FAU have together created the prerequisites for placing the DOSB license training into the German Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (DQR).

The course will be aimed at trainers, instructors and club managers with a DOSB license who have been active in other professions and who are active in their sporting activities on an honorary basis.