Tomorrow, the Allianz Riviera will host the match between RC Toulon and Clermont, but behind the scenes, a new partnership will be sealed between the Var club and the prestigious business school in Nice.
This agreement will allow young people in the training center, players with hopeful contracts, and professional players to join a prestigious business school to ensure their professional transition.
This collaboration will meet the degree training expectations of RC Toulon players in the fields of management and administration through obtaining a BBA.
In this EDHEC BBA, high-level athletes receive the same education as “regular” students. They thus acquire the same skills and, ultimately, obtain the same diploma.
Nice Premium spoke with Olivier Oger, General Director of EDHEC, who explains the details of this union, which will no doubt be a strength.
Interview with Olivier Oger, General Director of EDHEC BUSINESS SCHOOL
Nice Premium: EDHEC and RC Toulon, a spontaneous scrum?
Olivier Oger: We share the same values of excellence and performance, a great ambition for our youth, and the desire to offer them the best professional prospects.
In rugby, the international Clermontois Damien Chouly and Montpellier’s Provale president Robins Tchale Watchou have already joined the scrum and are students of the post-bac BBA EDHEC program!
Nice Premium: What exactly will this partnership consist of?
OO: This partnership allows young people from the training center, players with hopeful contracts, and professional RCT players to join our four-year BBA EDHEC bachelor program to ensure their professional future. This program is taught entirely online via e-learning so that high-level athletes can organize their studies around their sports training. A tutor accompanies them throughout their education to prevent feelings of isolation, monitor their educational progress, and help them build their professional project.
Nice Premium: Will this be a try converted to be repeated with other clubs, in other sports?
OO: We already have about thirty athletes representing a dozen sports in the High-Level Athletes Program of the BBA EDHEC: athletics, basketball, swimming, ice and field hockey, rugby, sailing, pentathlon… We signed a similar partnership agreement last year with the prestigious Olympic Swimming Club of Nice. Champions like Clรฉment Lefert and today Alizรฉe Morel have gone through EDHEC!
Nice Premium: At EDHEC, is the attack just as important as the defense?
OO: Yes! The High-Level Athletes Program solves the difficult issue of the “dual project” and provides champions with prospects beyond their sports “retirement,” sometimes at a very young age. We are present with all sports federations and INSEP, which greatly appreciated this educational innovation truly adapted to its needs.
Nice Premium: Finally, on Saturday, RC Toulon faces Clermont’s “jaunards,” a prediction?
OO: May the best team win! We’ll soon have young people from EDHEC in every team!
