The latest strategic dialogue took place in Goiânia over two days, with FISU officials holding discussions with their continental association FISU America and a number of National University Sport Federations (NUSF).

Aimed at aligning the associate members and NUSFs with their vision, the dialogue gave FISU the opportunity to outline their 10-year global strategy, which was passed at their General Assembly in Taipei during August.

It focuses on eight key areas, including delivering major sporting events, spreading education through sport, enhancing culture, building dual career programmes and developing FISU’s global network.

Promoting sport through direct relationships with universities, further improving financial and human resources, and cooperating with international organisations have also been highlighted as aims.

“One of our goals is to organise a platform for sharing positive experiences that countries have in building a solid relationship between all stakeholders in university sports,” said Matytsin at the event in Brazil.

“In many countries, sport is not yet a legal part of education.

“We will do what we can to explain to local authorities the importance of university sports, the necessity to make sport an inherent part of education."

"Even in countries that have sport as part of the education system, not all universities have facilities to practice sports.

“We will support NUSFs in their interaction with local authorities in order to provide sports equipment to university campuses.”

The meeting also saw discussions take place regarding the format of sports competition, communication and marketing, dual career for athletes and the promotion of gender equality.

The relationship between NUSF and national authorities was also seen as key.

FISU vice-president and Brazilian University Sports Confederation President Luciano Cabral claimed the global strategy could have a positive impact on university sport in the region.

"It was so surprising that, with the actions of this strategic dialogue, in the medium and long term we will see a significant change in the concepts and organisation of world university sports,” he said.

“Because of the experiences and especially the knowledge that is being acquired and produced with this project, the strategic dialogue is perhaps one of the great successes of FISU in the last years.”

FISU America President Alim Maluf Neto added that the dialogue had set a clear direction for its member federations for the coming years.

The first two strategic dialogues took place in in Xiamen, China and Kigali, Rwanda, where FISU met with the Asian University Sports Federation and Federation of African University Sports, respectively.