For three consecutive weeks, fifth-years students in the Dual Bachelor’s in Audiovisual Communication & Journalism program at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) welcomed three internationally prominent professional journalists into their classrooms. These meetings were offered as part of the thirteenth Ryszard Kapuscinski International Seminar on Journalism, Human Rights, Migration and Borders, and in conjunction with the UMH Service of International Relations, Development Cooperation and Volunteerism.

On April 18, Carla Vera, the Director of Brand and Provincial Communication at the Spanish Red Cross, spoke to the students. During her presentation, entitled ‘Publicizing Migration in the Mediterranean: The Case of the Red Cross,’ students were afforded the opportunity to analyze, along with the provincial head of communication at that organization, what that organization’s task entails concerning dissemination of the migration moving across the Mediterranean Sea. This meeting was also part of the ‘Snippets of Volunteering by Programs’ that the Unit of Cooperation and Volunteerism organizes and that is part of a 2022 agreement the university maintains with the Generalitat Valenciana.

Then, on April 25, the students welcomed Isidre Ambrós, a retired journalist whose long international career saw him as a correspondent for different media organizations in many parts around the world. Together with him, they analyzed the wars currently ongoing around the world, with special emphasis on those in Gaza and Ukraine. This group also discussed other topics, including the situation in the European Union that is running up to elections, plus the role of China in the world. This meeting was made possible by funding the university receives from the Spanish Ministry of Universities.

Lastly, on May 5, journalist and Amnesty International volunteer, Alexandra Murcia, spoke to the fifth-year students. During her intervention, they analyzed the work of Amnesty, and the cases they are working on now related to the freedom of information and freedom of the press. This meeting was also part of the ‘Snippets of Volunteering by Programs’ that the Unit of Cooperation and Volunteerism organizes and that is part of a 2023 agreement the university maintains with the Generalitat Valenciana.