Following the Youth Charter’s (YC) hosting of HAN University students in April 2016, another group of students were hosted in May 2017. This provided further insights and progress in the development of the Youth Charter Community Campus project.

The students are currently completing a Masters course in Social Innovations in the Sport and Movement Sector at the HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem, The Netherlands. They were visiting Manchester and Sheffield as part of a three-day study trip, which included visiting community sport projects. The HAN University delegates were hosted at the YC headquarters in Salford Quays and MediaCityUK.

The HAN University delegates were introduced to the Community Campus Models currently being developed in Greater Manchester (Birley, Etihad, ICZ Media City) how ‘Community Development through Sport’ and ‘Sport Development in the Community’ becomes part of a wider social and economic opportunity of sport, art, culture and digital technology within their communities..

The Youth Charter provided access to partner facilities, such as: ICZ MediaCityUK Community Campus in Salford; and the Etihad Community Campus in East Manchester. The contrasting and complementary redevelopment and regeneration projects demonstrated the challenges and opportunities for providing access to world class facilities.

The HAN University delegate’s studies will complement their professional development and the delivery of sport and health programmes, which included: education; health; youth justice; disability sport; and elite sport, with social Innovation as a key theme of this work.