FISU President Oleg Matytsin and RIOU Rector Professor Lev Belousov attended a ceremony held at the SportAccord Convention here.

The agreement, due to run until December 31in 2018, aims to promote the importance of education in the Olympic Movement and the wider sports industry.

It outlines 10 cooperation objectives and details three major points, including exchanging knowledge to help effectively train and appoint high-quality staff within the sporting community.

FISU and RIOU also hope it will develop bilateral cooperation while supporting science and education in the Olympic Movement.

The partnership includes an item involving the RIOU’s information legacy from the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games i Sochi as it will help provide education and training in the field of sports management to FISU.

"RIOU's position within the Olympic Movement is unique and I am looking forward to developing our relationship over the next two years and working together to further raise the standard of sports management teaching in higher education," Matytsin said.

"RIOU’s MSA course is a first-class educational programme and FISU is keen to identify candidates to participate in future intakes.

"Spreading the Olympic values is a crucial component of RIOU’s MSA course and this is something that FISU wholeheartedly supports."

The signing of the MoC followed Matytsin participating in a stone-laying ceremony at the site of FISU's new headquarters, located at the Synathlon building here in the Olympic Capital.

The project, estimated at a cost of CHF27 million (£19 million/$28 million/€25 million), will develop a centre on the Dorigny campus of the University of Lausanne.

Titled the “Synathlon”, the centre will become the host of four entities which are specialised in the promotion, teaching and research in the field of international sport.

Joining FISU in the building will be the Institute of Sports Science of the University of Lausanne, the International Academy for Sports Science and Technology and the Cluster Secretariat of International Sport.

"This building will unite education, university sport and sport science and technology under one roof," said Matytsin.

"In this way, it is more than just a building; it is a monument to the idea that athletes should always be able to pursue “dual careers”.

"The Synathlon will help athletes pursue sporting and intellectual goals side-by-side in an environment that promotes fair play, ethics and good governance."