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Fifteen border guard officers from various EU Member States and Iceland completed the Operational Training for European Union Mid-Management in Border Guarding – a unique educational programme organised by Frontex for mid-to high-level officers. Each student received a diploma at a graduation ceremony in Benalmádena, Spain.

“The students have completed this course at the right time, with the agency becoming European Border and Coast Guard Agency in October,” Frontex Deputy Executive Director Berndt Koerner said at the graduation ceremony. “Border control, security and migration remain very high on the agenda. You will have plenty of opportunities and we count on you to help Europe deal with these challenges.”

The course was made of four parts that cover management and practical leadership within EU border guarding activities, fundamental rights, border management in the European context and operational cooperation. Classes took place at partnership academies in Lithuania, Italy, Romania, Germany, Slovenia and Spain.

With its enhanced European dimension, the course reinforces border guard education across the Europe by focusing on operational training for mid-level managers in border guarding. The Course was developed at level six of Sectoral Qualification Framework (SQF) on border guarding within the eight levels of European Qualification Framework (EQF). The SQF supports the national integration of all common curricula, offering specific reference points for all border guard learning requirements and ensuring comparability of qualifications.

Frontex, which seeks to share the best border guarding practices among all EU and Schengen states, offers various learning opportunities for European border guards. Among these is also the Joint Master’s in Strategic Border Management programme, Europe’s only such specialised degree.

For the first time the operational training programme offered a qualification for Frontex  Support Officers (FSO), who play a key part in coordinating deployment of border guard officers in Frontex-led joint operations at the external borders. Officers who have graduated will now be able to be deployed as FSOs, whose responsibilities include support and monitoring of proper implementation of a Frontex operation on the ground and sharing information from the operational area.