The ERASMUS MUNDUS degree programme "European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations (EMMIR)" started two years ago. Today, Prof Dr Gunilla Budde, Vice President for Studies and Teaching, bid farewell to the first 23 graduates.
They come from 20 countries and were selected from 2,000 applicants. Six of the graduates received their certificates in person, while the remaining participants are currently scattered around the globe to gain professional experience or conduct research. EMMIR is the first European-African Master's programme dedicated to global migration movements. It is funded by ERASMUS MUNDUS, the European Union's excellence programme.
"Migration has accompanied the history of mankind and is taking on dramatic dimensions in its current dimensions and manifestations," says Gunilla Budde. "As graduates of this internationally unique degree programme, you are contributing to an urgently needed new discourse on migration and to the fact that science - in the spirit of Carl von Ossietzky - is addressing urgent global challenges." In their Master's theses, the graduates focussed on migration processes in Europe, Sudan, Uganda and Southeast Asia.
The graduates spent the introductory semester at the University of Oldenburg, after which they transferred to the University of Stavanger (Norway) for a further semester. They then continued their studies - depending on their specialisation - at partner universities in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, Uganda and Sudan.
On Monday, 23 September, the international degree programme will enter its third round: 28 students from 25 countries will then begin their studies at the University of Oldenburg.