Aim

Inform members of the university community and society in general about the state of migrations in progress, particularly in the Mediterranean area, as well as the (social, economic, legal and cultural) problems that migratory processes involve today; train university students in the spirit of tolerance in a multicultural society and prospect what may be a new concept of citizenship keeping up with the times; develop initiatives to reconcile respect for one's own cultural identity with the knowledge of other cultures in an international context characterized by a very unequal development and transmission of information and communication; publicize educational projects under way to resolve conflicts arising from the encounter of cultures, with special attention to the fact that many migrants have been raised in different religious convictions from those of the host country and explicitly express their desire to preserve them; cultivate positive values which facilitate respect for differences, the free expression of cultures and the voluntary integration of cultural minorities that exist in our society, as a result of recent major population movements.

History

The UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Studies was created in 2001 at the Faculty of Humanities at the Pompeu Fabra University under the direction of Dr. Francisco Fernández Buey. Currently, the Chair is coordinated by Jordi Mir, Associate Professor of the Department of Humanities at the Pompeu Fabra University, and is formed by a group of young researchers from different areas of knowledge such as History, Philosophy, Anthropology or Political Science.