Everything in place to prepare future trainers for peace with the UNESCO-FFCB-UOC Chair master's degree

UNESCO, the FC Barcelona Foundation (FFCB) and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC) have joined forces to prepare future trainers for peace. The master’s degree in Sport as a Tool for Social Coexistence and Conflict Resolution is to start in November 6, 2012 with the aim of teaching people how to use sport as a tool for socialising.

This master’s degree will prepare professionals to make the most of sport for education and intervention in contexts of low social cohesion and high levels of socio-political conflict.

Students from disciplines including education, psychology, physical exercise or primary care are provided strategies to resolve the conflicts arising from social, cultural, racial or religious issues.

This training is both theoretical and practical, “as the knowledge acquired can be applied to the actual reality and different groups,” said the School for Cooperation’s coordinator Carme Anguera, who sees sport as a “very effective” tool for working with the young and women immigrants, children in vulnerable social situations, those in situations of social exclusion or people with special needs.

Likewise, Eduard Vinyamata, director of the Campus for Peace, said, “Sport is a universal language to increase tolerance and promote peace.”

There will be two versions of the master’s degree, one in English and one in Spanish. They are comprised of two 30-credit postgraduate courses: Sport and Social Coexistence, which is to begin in October 2012, and Sport and Conflict Resolution, which is scheduled to start in 2013.