The postgraduate specialist study program PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION OF SPORTS INJURIES is the result of a series of meetings of the working group, focus groups of former students - kinesiologists, physiotherapists and physicians and employers in these areas.

The postgraduate specialist study programme is proposed on the basis of the identified shortcomings in the field of specialist programmes for prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries currently existing in the higher education sector in the Republic of Croatia and the EU.

In addition, there is an existing need in the community for a kind of study we are offering. As the area of kinesiology has in addition to sports, recently become increasingly important in the field of recreation, especially in the area of physical activity related to health, the need for scientifically educated specialists in this field has also increased. Considering that morbidity and mortality rates in a population are more influenced by the sedentary lifestyle than by many other risk factors (such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure), the role of continuous sports activities, and also lifelong physical activity and exercise not interrupted by injuries becomes immensely important even from the economic aspect (decrease in the number of injuries, sick leave, treatment costs, better work efficiency of the employed population and the like).

With this study programme the Faculty of Kinesiology University of Zagreb offers a quality, job-oriented study programme that will adequately respond to the continuously growing need for scientifically and professionally educated staff from this field.

Given that prevention and rehabilitation of sports injuries must have an interdisciplinary approach in real-life sports activities, the same way approach is applied in the process of structuring this study programme. In order to provide the best candidate training and implementation of this study, The Faculty of Medicine of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek and the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Medical Faculty of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek are included as partner institutions in the organization and implementation of studies. With its human and material resources is an important part of this study programme and student education in the field of prevention, and especially rehabilitation of sports injuries on the basis of extensive experience and practice precisely in top level sport.

This interdisciplinary study program consists of two semesters of teaching in nine compulsory, one differential, two elective courses, clinical practice, sports practice and final specialist work in a total fund of 360 hours or 60 ECTS credits. After the study programme was submitted to the University of Zagreb, it was accepted by  reviewers and obtained the opinions of the social and biomedicine area councils. After procedure at University, it was sent to the Ministry of Science and Education and the Agency for Higher Education with a request for enrollment in the Register of study programs.