Roehampton announced as Crystal Palace F.C’s Official Higher Education Partner

  • Wednesday, August 25, 2021

The University of Roehampton initially joined the Club as a local partner in the summer of 2018 and, since then, Roehampton students have been offered a wide range of project work and placement opportunities by the Club. Croydon, the Club’s home borough, has become the number one location for University of Roehampton student recruitment.

Image - Roehampton announced as Crystal Palace F.C’s Official Higher Education Partner

In 2019, the innovative Study Play undergraduate programme was successfully launched, enabling overseas students to be trained by Crystal Palace F.C. and Palace For Life Foundation coaches, whilst studying at the University of Roehampton. More details on Study Play are available here

The official partnership announced today will see the club continue to support the University of Roehampton students with work experience and project work opportunities, as well as supplying guest lecturers, attending careers events and offering discounted student tickets to Crystal Palace Women’s matches. The University will benefit from coverage across the pitch side LED screens, on the first-team highlights feature and its logo will be on the back of Crystal Palace Women’s home shirts.

The Palace For Life Foundation, the official charity of the Club, and the University of Roehampton will also collaborate on projects to engage with young people and schools to raise aspirations in Croydon and beyond, and the University’s women’s football team will work closely with the Crystal Palace Women’s team on a range of initiatives, including joint training. The University of Roehampton will provide academic expertise to the club and Foundation, and provide the club’s staff access to Roehampton degrees.

Liam Hurley, Director of Strategy and External Relations at the University of Roehampton said “We are really excited to be building on our existing partnership with Crystal Palace, a club dedicated to supporting the community and young people in many ways. Ensuring our students gain relevant professional experience is central to all of our degrees, and this partnership provides a wonderful opportunity for our students to do so, as well as supporting the club with their needs.

We also look forward to exploring opportunities to collaborate on research projects and share knowledge where our academics can make an impact on performance.”

Barry Webber, Crystal Palace Commercial Director, said: "Having worked together closely over the last 3 years, we are thrilled to announce that the University of Roehampton have decided to become our Official Higher Education Partner.

This is a truly exciting, multifaceted partnership, which has not only given students the opportunity to engage with a Premier League club through their course, but also enabled us to create a truly bespoke degree offering for overseas students through the Study Play course. We look forward to continuing this very exciting partnership and building on the success of the last 3 years.”