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The masters will be carried out in the UC3M’s facilities and the EFE Training School, as well as in the Agency’s different editorial departments and offices. The curriculum includes seven months of theory and six months of practice during a paid internship in EFE’s offices in Spain and abroad. Among this year’s students, the majority of them graduates of Journalism and Film, Television and Media Studies, are scholarship-holders of the Fundación Carolina, sponsored by Naturgy, coming from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico. This year, students from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic are also taking part.

During the opening, the president of the UC3M, Juan Romo, stated that it is a masters that is “necessary and of great public relevance” and that agency journalists “should be aware of the power they hold”. “I am convinced that this masters will become a benchmark postgraduate degree within its field, which will always aim to defend the public role of journalism and university”, he pointed out, highlighting that “we are ultimately the ones responsible for the stories we tell”.

For his part, the president of the EFE Agency, Fernando Garea, encouraged the students to learn everything they can during their education and be passionate about their work, despite “times of difficulty” the profession may go through: “You are all going to learn to practice a wonderful activity for which you must take risks and suffer, but you will also enjoy yourselves”. “You have to help us to reinvent journalism”, he concluded.

The academic director of the masters, Pilar Carrera, highlighted the importance of training agency journalists with a “deep theoretical and critical knowledge of the environment they work in”, which will help them to “practice independent, quality journalism”.

Rosario Pons, technical director of the Masters and director of EFE School, said the presence of Latin-American students on the course means completing the circle “that starts with the recognisable impact EFE has on this continent, and how this way it comes back into the control of young Latin-American journalists who complete their education with us”. For her part, the head of the Postgraduate area of the Fundación Carolina, Paula Alonso, advised the students to make the most of this “unique opportunity”.

Prior to the opening, Romo and Garea signed the collaboration agreement between the two institutions for the organisation, management and carrying out of the master. This training programme also relies on collaboration from Canon, who supplies materials for the photography module.

With the launch of this master, the UC3M, one of the top 30 young universities in the world according to the QS ranking, and EFE, the top Spanish news agency with a worldwide network of journalists who work from more than 180 cities in 120 countries, unite forces to contribute to the specialised training in quality news journalism.