The Centre of Excellence “Immigration and Human Rights in Europe’s External Borders” aims to be a European and trans-national centre for training, research and dissemination on Immigration, Borders and Human Rights, with an intense projection in a border area that is especially sensitive to these everyday problems.

The Centre is placed in the Instituto Universitario de Desarrollo Social y Sostenible (INDESS), Campus de Jerez and is integrated in the Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR), coordinated by the University of Cadiz.
The Centre of Excellence plans to develop training and dissemination activities in the Cadiz and Algeciras Campuses, as well as in the University of Tangier-Tetouan (Morocco), as well as in Secondary and Baccalaureate educational centres in the province of Cadiz.

The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence would have four clearly defined axes:

Firstly, the bilingual Master in International Relations and Migrations (International and European Studies).

This is an Official Postgraduate managed by the University of Cadiz with the collaboration of the different University Foundations located at the University of Cadiz: Aula Universitaria Hispano-Rusa, Aula Universitaria Iberoamericana, Aula Universitaria del Estrecho and Aula Universitaria de Gibraltar, as well as the University of Gibraltar and the Algeciras Technological Campus Foundation.

This Master will be based at the Campus of Jerez de la Frontera. Not in the whole University or Cádiz but just the Campus of Jerez and Algeciras have studies in Law and Institutions of the European Union. However, these European studies are generic and do not focus on a daily reality on the southern European border, specifically in the Mediterranean region, such as European migration policy and the protection of human rights of migrants. Issues relating to Gibraltar’s status in the EU and in the international context in these areas should also be highlighted.

That is why the aim of the Master is to offer as a novelty this subject so close to the society of southern Spain and Europe. The Master would consist of 1,500 hours – 60 ECTS, with face-to-face and non- face-to-face activities, bilingual English and Spanish, and to be held at the University of Cadiz.

The Master is complemented by an international Conference in Tangier of 10 hours a year, bilingual Spanish and French, to be held at the nearby Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Tangier-Tetouan (Morocco), with experts and academics from Morocco and other countries participating in the Center of Excellence.

Secondly, the Centre has a research objective through the publication of several works in specialised journals and the publication of a book on issues of immigration, borders and human rights at European external borders, with special emphasis on the southern border.

Thirdly, seminars and meetings with experts and NGOs are planned. And, in particular, a Seminar-Encounter with Organizations related to immigration and human rights (UNHCR, Red Cross, Association for Human Rights of Andalusia) to be held annually and with headquarters in the Foundation Technological Campus of Algeciras.

Finally, fourthly, a dissemination objective, through the 2 Europa Direct of San Fernando and Algeciras, which will hold information sessions between secondary schools and high schools in the province of Cadiz on issues related to migration and human rights.

In short, the aim is to focus the Centre of Excellence on studies on the EU, the European integration process and its immigration policy and the protection of human rights on the southern border, with special reference to relations with the Maghreb and Sub-Saharan countries. Equally noteworthy is the role of Gibraltar in this reality, in the context of Brexit and its impact on the southern European border. In addition, training in immigration and external borders will be projected in students from Eastern European countries and Russia. The Centre of Excellence would then be addressed to national and international students of the University of Cadiz, in its different campuses in Cadiz, Algeciras, Puerto Real and Jerez, and to students and teachers of the University of Tangier-Tetouan, as well as to secondary schools and high schools, and also to civil society in general, including NGOs, and to all groups aware of the reality of immigration and the protection of human rights.