European Master degree in Plant Health in Sustainable Cropping Systems (PlantHealth)

PlantHealth – European Master Degree in PLANT HEALTH IN SUSTAINABLE CROPPING SYSTEMS is organised by a consortium of six Universities from four European countries: Montpellier SupAgro, Agrocampus Ouest and AgroParis Tech (France), University of Göttingen (Germany), University of Padova (Italy) and Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). These Universities are highly proficient and experienced in teaching courses on general and specific aspects of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In addition, all partners have an excellent reputation in research on various fundamental and applied aspects in plant health management, and keep strong links with enterprises of the plant protection sector and research institutes in Europe.

Universitat Politècnica de València is the co-ordinating institution of the PlantHealth Consortium.

Plant health management is a key subject of global development with regard to food safety, food security and environmental preservation. With the increasing globalization and climate change new diseases and pests threatening agricultural production will occur and have to be tackled. In many parts of the world, plant protection products are not used according to advanced regulatory and safety standards. A key issue is the need to take into account the population dynamics of pests, pathogens or weeds in the context of the whole agro-ecosystem, including beneficials, and the impact of the cropping system. The development of safe crop protection methods requires the education of highly skilled professionals for crop protection management in a sustainable agriculture, in the developed countries as well as in the developing world. This is the core mission of the European Master Degree in Plant Health in sustainable cropping systems.

Courses

The Courses take place in two different countries (at least one year in each country). A student will obtain 60 ECTS in the first-year University and the other required 60 ECTS (second year) in another University of the consortium.

In the first year, or M1, students must select between Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) or University of Göttingen (Germany). The M1 phase offers common education to deliver the same basis of knowledge to all the students and consists of compulsory modules on fundamental aspects in: crop sciences, crop protection, population biology, molecular biology and statistics. All the M1 courses are taught in English.

In the second year, or M2, students will choose a hosting University from the PlantHealth Consortium which necessarily must me located in a different country from that of the M1 (see mobility scheme). Students shall have the chance to specialise in particular topics of their interest to get a deeper knowledge in well-defined fields of integrated pest management in different agro-ecosystems across diverse climatic zones (see fields of specialisation in each M2). M2 courses are taught in English at all Partner universities, except at the French universities, where the language of instruction is French. All students will receive language courses to promote their academic success and facilitate their social integration.

The last semester will be devoted to the Master thesis.

Outcomes

The PlantHealth programme provides students access to the best research-based teaching programme on sustainable plant health management in Europe. A distinctive and important feature of the Master PlantHealth is the emphasis on applied plant health management.

Specific objectives of the programme include:

• Educating young professionals in basic and advanced aspects of plant health management in a diversity of crop production systems and various regional/climatic situations following principles of sustainability.
• Exposing students and scholars to the different realities of crop production systems and available environmental friendly means of crop protection according to regional specificities.

On completion of the PlantHealth Master Degree, graduates will be able to:

• Diagnose and identify plant health problems
• Analyse the causes of these problems and evaluate their environmental, economic and social consequences
• Conceive technically adapted, economically viable, socially acceptable, health and environment benign solutions, meeting the requirements of sustainable cropping systems
• Apply research methods, instruments and tools appropriately
• Use their knowledge and skills in a wide range of agricultural contexts, and transfer the scientific advances to a wide range of projects and actors at international level.