Press Room

NUI Galway First University Outside of North America to Form University Course Curriculum Partnership with ACE

Posted: Jul 21, 2010 in

June 27, 2010 (Galway, Ireland) – NUI Galway has become the first university outside North America to form a University Course Curriculum partnership with the American Council on Exercise® (ACE®). This partnership will provide NUI Galway with access to the ACE curriculum specifically designed for universities. ACE has formed similar partnerships with a range of prestigious North American universities including Stanford, Duke and Purdue.

NUI Galway will initially use the ACE curriculum in the University’s BE/MEngSc Sports & Exercise Engineering (SEE) programme. The partnership means that Sports & Exercise Engineering students at NUI Galway, by successfully completing the SEE programme, will have covered the curriculum for the ACE Personal Trainer and ACE Advanced Health and Fitness Specialist programmes, and thus will have the option of taking the exams for certification on both ACE programmes. Such certification has worldwide acceptance, providing additional opportunities for graduates to make meaningful and positive contributions to the health and fitness industry.

Founded in 1985, ACE is a recognised leader in the field of physical fitness and has more than 50,000 certified health and fitness professionals in 110 countries. ACE is a non-profit organisation committed to enriching quality of life through safe and effective exercise and physical activity. ACE sets itself the goal of protecting all segments of society against ineffective fitness products, programmes and trends through its ongoing public education, outreach and research. ACE further protects the public by setting certification and continuing education standards for fitness professionals.

Speaking about the new partnership, Professor Gearóid Ó Laighin, Head of Electrical & Electronic Engineering and SEE Course Director, said: “This is a very exciting development for NUI Galway as it aligns us with the United States’ premier exercise promotion and training body and provides us with the opportunity to deliver the ACE curriculum to our student over the course of the Sports & Exercise Engineering programme”.

“We are pleased to share our leading curriculum with NUI Galway”, said Scott Goudeseune, ACE’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “It’s exciting to see ACE’s certification programs provide students on a global scale with enhanced credibility and the opportunity to educate, motivate, inspire and train others. We are confident that this partnership will help students make a difference in the fitness industry”.

The NUI Galway BE/MEngSc Sports and Exercise Engineering programme is a professional Engineering programme whose graduates will design systems for monitoring, performing and improving sport and exercise performance. The Sports and Exercise Engineering programme has four elements to the education of its graduates: Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Sports Science and Health Science.

This development occurs as NUI Galway add a suite of Sports Science modules to the SEE programme, including Applied Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology of Human Movement, Sports and Exercise Psychology, and Exercise Prescription and Programming in the second semester of third year. The addition of these modules to the programme will provide students with a strong grounding in the science of sports and exercise and prepare the students for work in the sports and exercise industries.

Electrical & Electronic Engineering at NUI Galway has also appointed Ted Vickey as Chair of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Sports & Exercise Engineering programme to advise the University on the further development of the SEE programme. Mr Vickey is a Special Advisor to the President and CEO of ACE and President of FitWell LLC. He served as Executive Director of the White House Athletic Center from 1994 to 2005 for the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. From 2001 to 2007, he was Vice-President of Comprehensive Health Services, Inc.

“It is an honor to serve as Chair of the Industrial Advisory Board for the Sports and Exercise Engineering programme,” said Vickey. “As a champion of ACE and the important work this organization does in North America, I look forward to promoting ACE’s mission within NUI Galway and educating students on the importance of enriching quality of life through safe and effective exercise and physical activity”.

Commenting on the new developments in the Sports & Exercise Engineering programme at NUI Galway, Professor Gerard Lyons, Dean of the College of Engineering and Informatics said “I am delighted to see these important new developments in the Sports & Exercise Engineering programme at NUI Galway and particularly welcome the new partnership with the American Council on Exercise, which will provide international input into the SEE programme. At NUI Galway we are particularly proud to be the first university outside North America to form a university partnership with ACE”.

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