From Istituto Superiore di Educazione Fisica to the Degree Programme in «SPORT AND MOTOR SCIENCES»

The Istituto Superiore di Educazione Fisica of Milan was the first established in Lombardy. It was inaugurated for the 1964/65 academic year upon recognition as equivalent to a “ISEF” (Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education) obtained by Presidential Decree no. 1671 dated 31 October 2000. Its advocates were the Istituto Giuseppe Toniolo di Studi Superiori and the Opera Diocesana for the Preservation and Dissemination of the Faith in Milan.
Card. Giovanni Battista Montini, archbishop of Milan until 1963 and subsequently elected Pope, was an ardent promoter who upheld the establishment of a university institute in the field of physical education aimed at promoting the scientific and technical progress and the culture necessary for training future teachers of physical education and the technical uses related to it.

As a University Institute with legal and autonomous administrative and teaching facilities, ISEF Milan offered diploma programmes at the following locations:

• Milan, from 1964/65 a.y. to 2000/2001 a.y.
• Brescia, from 1973/74 a.y. to 1995/96 a.y.
• Sassari, from 1980/81 a.y. to 1985/86 a.y.

Within that period of time 4,291 students have graduated in Physical Education.
In accordance with legislative decrees no. 178 dated 8 May 1998 and 15 January 1999, which transformed the Istituti Superiore di Educazione Fisica (ISEF) Faculties and Degree programmes, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and the Istituto Giuseppe Toniolo di Studi Superiori instigated the Undegraduate Degree in Sport and Motor Sciences within the Faculty of Education in order to preserve and enhance the wealth of cultural, scientific and professional methods and content acquired by the ISEFs in Milan in the following areas:

• educational-teaching: aimed at teaching all levels in schools;
• preventative measures and physical education: aimed at people of all ages and at disabled persons;
• technical-sportive: aimed at training in the various sports disciplines;
• managerial: aimed at organising and managing sports activities and structures.

With the Ministerial Decree dated 5 August 1999, Università Cattolica was authorised to establish the four-year Degree programme in Sport and Motor Sciences, from the 1999/2000 AY, thanks also to the crucial contribution, for the biomedical sector, of professors from the "A. Gemelli" Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in Rome.
In accordance with the ministerial decree no 509 dated 3 November 1999, which introduced the new frameworks for all graduate degrees (L)  and graduate degrees (LS), Università Cattolica inaugurated the three-year Degree programme in Sport and Motor Sciences (within the Faculty of Education) for the 2001/2002 AY.

It is vital that the following elements are available for the Degree Programme:

• qualified teaching staff for the various fields of study;
• didactic structures for theoretical teaching (classrooms, libraries, language and computer labs);
• facilities, sports equipment and laboratories for scientific research.