12:1 Winter 2012 © http://ejmas.com INYO Page13 MARTIAL ARTS AND COMBAT SPORTS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORT SCIENCES DEGREES A C OMPARATIVE S TUDY OF B RAZIL , F RANCE , P ORTUGAL , AND S PAIN Mariana Simões Pimentel Gomes and Bruno Avelar-Rosa Abstract This paper examines the Martial Arts and Combat Sports (MA&CS) pedagogy in the Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) degrees offered in Brazil, France, Spain, and Portugal. Document analysis was used to observe the study plans of the universities. In the European countries, we tried to analyze every university with a PESS degree while in Brazil we examined at least one public university per state. The existence of MA&CS, the name of the subjects, the combat sport emphasized and the type (required or elective) were the main variables observed. An overview of each country appears in the accompanying tables. These tables show the percentage of universities that have MA&CS in their curriculum, as well as the disciplines and if courses are required or elective. French universities presented MA&CS in all the analyzed degrees, but Judo, GeŶeƌal AppƌoaĐh ;a teƌŵ ǁe defiŶe ďeloǁͿ, aŶd BodžiŶg/FƌeŶĐh Boxing were the styles most frequently offered. Most Spanish universities offered MA&CS in PESS degree and in these programs Judo has supremacy over other practices. Less than half of the Portuguese universities offered MA&CS, and the ones who did usually offered either Judo or a GeŶeƌal AppƌoaĐh. IŶ Bƌazil theƌe ǁas a high iŶĐideŶĐe of MA&C“ iŶ the PE““ degƌees, aŶd the GeŶeƌal AppƌoaĐh, kŶoǁŶ as Luta, ǁas tLJpiĐal. The Brazilian MA&CS of Capoeira is also popular in Brazilian universities. It is possible to state with confidence that MA&CS are frequently included in PESS degrees in these four countries. It is also possible to confidently conclude that Judo is the ŵost iŶflueŶtial spoƌt iŶ these ĐouŶtƌies’ PE““ pƌogƌaŵs. Hoǁeǀeƌ, further studies are required to determine if what the course catalogues describe accurately describes what is being taught by the professors.