The Joint European Master Program (EJMP) offers science-based competences for a European community of good practices. It is the first academic program of the EU whose objective is to address the common challenges of police cooperation within the framework of internal security. The Program is unique and complementary to the Higher Education Program and the existing Master Programs in Police Surveillance of the Member States of the European Union and fully satisfies the Bologna Declaration on Higher Education and the descriptors of Dublin, recognized by all universities of the European Union. This alignment guarantees the academic quality, coherence and logic of the Master's Program.

This Joint European Master Program covers the main aspects of police cooperation in accordance with the mandate of CEPOL. However, it can easily develop into a program for multi-institutional police cooperation. The Joint European Masters Program will contribute strongly to the creation of a European community of good practices, in which highly trained professionals will have the lasting opportunity to participate in a professional network through which they can exchange information, knowledge and good practices on police cooperation European Union and other related issues within the EU's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice.

Master's students will achieve competences in the application of creative and proactive strategic leadership skills that allow them to address the international challenges of social and organizational change. The Joint European Master Program is organized and implemented by a Consortium composed of public universities  / and oficial academies of police/universities authorized to teach a Master course according to the Bologna rules in the EU Member States and by partners appointed by the Points of the National Contact Points of CEPOL.

It can also be offered to partner countries and candidate countries, as well as other countries and partner agencies, so that knowledge is shared with the Police and other parts of the authorities for law enforcement.


Organization of the Master's Program

The Joint European Master Program has the following structure as designed by the working group of experts appointed by CEPOL and approved by the Governing Council of CEPOL, the Board of Directors of the Master and the Governing Council of the UNED.

The program is taught entirely in English, its duration is two (2) years and includes 60 ECTS .

 The Master Program consists of 7 Modules with a total of 46 ECTS credits corresponding to the first six theoretical modules (subjects) and a final module of 14 ECTS that constitutes the Final Master's Project and which has been referred to in the agreement and the curriculum "Master's Thesis" for bringing the title of this module closer to the European denomination. During the first year the first four modules will be taught (28 ECTS) and the second year contents modules 5, 6 and 7 (32 ECTS).

The modules will continue to be taught sequentially and for students to access the next module they must have passed the previous one.  

The Joint European Master Program is based on an integrated cooperation between CEPOL and the participating universities of the Member States of the European Union in which the UNED is the coordinating university and offers all its services to its students and CEPOL provides its unique environment of e-learning and academic services such as documentary resources, as well as webinars (webinars).

Module 1 focuses on the presentation of the program and the methodology; This face-to-face phase lasts four (4) days. This module supposes four (4) ECTS. The following five modules (from Module 2 to 6 included) constitute the learning core of the program. Each module implies a face-to-face week of five (5) days (5 x 8 = 40 hours). These modules are carried out by the partners of the Consortium (normally a university and the CEPOL Framework Cooperation Partner) and involve 8 ECTS (modules 2, 3 and 4) or 9 ECTS (modules 5 and 6). The final module (Module 7) is for the preparation, research and writing of the Master thesis, with 14 ETCS. The sequence of Modules is fixed and can not be changed for any reason

The content of the modules is fixed and based on the following logic to ensure uniformity and coherence and continuity in learning:

• The information and knowledge acquired by students is organized in an incremental way: the knowledge acquired in a module determines the acquisition of knowledge in the next module.

• From general knowledge to specific knowledge: the knowledge acquired at the beginning of the Program becomes more specific and precise during the course of the Program.

• From methodological knowledge to application in practice: students learn how to select and critically reflect on the use of methodologies and apply them in practice for the purposes of empirical research, first with small tasks and at the end of the Program in the context of your individual Master's Thesis.

• From abstract knowledge to practical application in specific strategic and operational frameworks: Students learn about theoretical and academic concepts, learn to apply them in specific environments, such as cases and operations.

• From a strategic level to the operational level: students theoretically address the place of the police in society and the legal framework, learning how to apply these approaches in their specific professional activity.

Methodologies of teaching and learning

The Master Program will be applied through blended learning, which for the first 6 modules will consist of a first phase of distance learning, online, during which students will have the necessary teaching material in the virtual course space on the training platform CEPOL to acquire the knowledge and skills proposed for each module, and will have the support and guidance of the teaching teams responsible for each subject. During this phase the students will carry out a significant proportion of autonomous learning and depending on the modules, training activities will be considered with their corresponding evaluation.


After the first phase at a distance and with the knowledge acquired during this period, students will make a face-to-face week at the organizing institution, which will coincide with the institution responsible for the module.

During this phase various training activities will be carried out, depending on the teaching design of each module, based on seminars, lectures, oral presentations of work by students, visits to specialized centers of interest for the contents of the modules, etc.

During this week they will be able to work in groups and communicate the students among themselves and with the professors and experts that collaborate in the activities of the face-to-face week. With all the work done in the previous phases, during the last phase the students will carry out autonomous work, advised and guided by the teaching teams, they will carry out the last works and they will be submitted to the evaluation of the knowledge acquired during the realization of the module.

Finally, they will complete the completion of the master's degree with the completion of the thesis, to what has been called in the context of this title, master thesis. They will count with a director/supervisor appointed among the professors that make up the teaching teams of the master's degree and will be defended according to the regulations of the coordinating university, in this case the UNED. The defense of the thesis can be done through on-line videoconference

Organization of Teaching:

Teaching Teams are nominated at the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Master,. It decides the distribution of the teaching of the modules among the participating universities in the development of the degree was agreed upon.

In each module there is a responsible University, in whom falls the task of organizing and hosting the residential week of this module, and experts from other universities that support the development of the module and are part of its teaching team.

In each teaching team responsibilities will be distributed around specific tasks of developing the teaching materials, teaching delivery, carrying out the follow-up and orientation to the students, and evaluating the competences and the learning results acquired by the students.

At the beginning of each new promotion/iteration (every two years), the Board of Directors -named Steering Commitee- will decide who, within the teaching teams already established for each module, will be in charge of the coordination and will be responsible for it, which entails the responsibility of organizing the residential week , but the teaching team will remain partly constant. This form of teaching organization guarantees coherence and continuity of teaching both in its academic and administrative aspects. The teaching teams thus formed will also provide an enrichment of teaching based on the collaboration of academic and professional experts from different countries of the European Union.

Detailed Study Plan (Curriculum) 

In the Student ´s Handbook, the detailed Curiculum study plan of the European Joint Master Program with a duration of 2 years will be described in order to reach the necessary level (as there are 60 ECTS credits, ) . A curriculum has been designed to invite internal security professionals to apply strategic and operational concepts in complex international environments, including the EU Policy Development Cycle and the Evaluation of Serious Threats from Organized Crime.

Students must be able to transmit their knowledge about EU instruments, especially for police cooperation and aspects related to security, which will allow them to become familiar with these instruments. They will improve their management skills and consider, using strategic thinking, the application of European legislation to national programs.

The Master Program provides a highly qualified and specialized learning environment in which participants have been trained to implement and operationalize EU instruments, especially in specific situations of cross-border police cooperation, as well as to manage the challenges of European internal security.

The curriculum is a living instrument and may be subject to minor modifications in order to reinforce the coherence of the entire program. The evaluations of the Master Program can lead to light modifications in the Curriculum, as well as external opinions.

As mentioned above, the European Joint Master Program, with a duration of two years and 60 ECTS, will be composed of 7 modules. The Study  Curriculum Plan describes in detail the suggested structure and content of the modules.

The duration of the program is two years and includes 60 ECTS, which are structured as follows:

1. Module I (4 ECTS): General Introduction and Methodology

2. Module II (8 ECTS): International and comparative Police Activity

3. Module III (8 ECTS): Governance and Strategic Aspects of international police cooperation

4. Module IV (8 ECTS): Legal and regulatory aspects of European Police Cooperation

5. Module V (9 ECTS): Operational aspects of European police cooperation

6. Module VI (9 ECTS): Management aspects and leadership of European police cooperation

7. Module VII (14 ECTS): Final Master's Thesis.
 

Evaluation Strategy

Each of the 7 modules includes various tasks that will be evaluated on a Common Evaluation Framework, attached to the Consortium Agreement. The main characteristic of this framework is that it can be used and applied uniformly `by all the advisers of all the institutions that contribute to the complete set of tasks, whether written or oral, small or large, empirical or theoretical. The framework is based on a common plan that has already been successfully applied by various universities. For students and academic experts in teaching, it is essential that the evaluation be carried out in a timely, effective and neutral manner. It is essential that students complete their modules in their chronological order. They must have passed the previous module or undergo a resit activity. Therefore, they are required to complete Module I first before taking on the tasks of Module II and so on.

During the entire participation of the Master Program, students will be supervised and monitored with a view to check their progress.