SN
Sangback Nam
Hanyang University
Session: Sport Services: Volunteers, Employees, & Development
Fostering knowledge economy and human capital through vocational development of retired athletes in South Korea
This study used the concepts of knowledge economy and human capital to examine core vocational development programs for retired elite athletes in South Korea. Known as the ‘Global Sports Talent Development Project,’ the Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism (MCST) established the Korea Foundation for the Next Generation Sports Talent (NEST) in 2007 and restructured this organization as the Centre for the Next Generation Sports Talent Development into the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPO) in 2016. The NEST/KSPO Foundation has developed diverse vocational training policies and practices for retired athletes for over the past 10 years. However, core vocational training programs and their outcomes have not been examined comprehensively. Therefore, this study adopted a descriptive case study design to investigate four of the core vocational development programs as units of analysis including: (a) Sports Talent English Program, (b) Global Professionals in Sports Program, (c) Global Sports Leadership Program, and (d) Advanced Sports Talent Development Program. These units of analysis were described by underpinning the concepts of knowledge economy and human capital, indicating the ways in which the South Korean government has made endeavors to produce global human capital through retired athletes and has expected them to reinforce sports diplomacy.
