Training at the European Border and Coast Guard Academy

Frontex plays a crucial role in proper training and enforcing high common standards that serve as the foundation of European Integrated Border Management (EIBM). This particular role of the Agency has become even more crucial as it trains the first members of the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps, Europe’s first uniformed law enforcement service. Frontex’s new and essential role is to ensure that Standing Corps officers are properly trained and have the technical and operational readiness to be deployed and to operate in a unified manner in any operational area.

At the same time, Frontex continues to support border and coast guards in their preparation for operational deployment at the EU’s external borders with cost-effective training solutions, a hybrid model of training and learning services offering delivery of training on a large scale as well as training tailored to the specific operational and individual needs of border and coast guards before and during deployment.

Frontex provides members of Standing Corps Category 1 (Frontex statutory staff) with the necessary training in border control and/or returns, including in fundamental rights, through the Operational Training Programme, so that they are able to promptly respond to any current and emerging challenges in a professional and interoperable manner.

The Agency also equips all the Standing Corps categories with specialised training tailored to the operational profiles to be deployed and relevant to the tasks and powers in the field. The specialised training is designed to ensure technical and operational readiness of the Standing Corps.

Frontex focuses its training activities on two areas:

▸ Dedicated training for the Standing Corps

▸ Strengthening European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG) capacities

The Agency is also active in the area of developing effective training methodologies.

A set of courses harmonised with the Common Core Curriculum (CCC basic and CCC mid-level), consisting of basic training for European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps Cat. 1 and specific, specialised courses for all the categories of the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps, tailored to address identified needs in terms of job competences required under the 3 profiles in which the Standing Corps is deployed. These courses ensure that its members have the necessary skills to operate in a unified manner in any operational area, generating added value, and fully respecting fundamental rights in all Frontex actions. An additional objective is to contribute to creating a common European Border and Coast Guard professional culture among the participants through different practical exercises, thus developing the necessary skills to overcome cultural challenges, understand and manage conflicts, and be aware of the different stages of team development.

A set of courses tailored to provide officers from EU Member States, Schengen Area Countries, and third countries with the necessary knowledge and skills at different levels (practitioner, specialist) to cover different areas of competence to enhance EBCG capacities at EU external borders. This set consists of various courses, starting with English for Border and Coast Guarding and continuing with courses related to European Integrated Border Management, Schengen evaluations, and different control systems implemented at EU external borders (EES, ETIAS, ABC) as well as those related to different types of European cooperation.

This is a set of courses tailored to ensure the operational relevance, standards, and quality of training programmes and courses in the area of border and coast guarding.  These courses aim to help build Frontex’s capacity for designing high-quality, effective, and practical training, and may also be offered to EU Member State and Schengen Area Country experts who contribute to the design of border and coast guard courses both at the national level and at Frontex. These courses provide trainers' training, certification, and also continuing professional development, enabling subject matter/operational experts who deliver Frontex courses to uphold quality standards for training delivery in line with current Frontex requirements and European Union policies and best practices.

An overview of courses offered by the EBCG Academy can be found in the EBCG Training Catalogue. The current catalogue describes the courses that will be taught by EBCG instructors during the year 2025. This document is updated every six months or whenever a training activity has been revised, or a new one has been added to the curriculum.