Mobility first
Our principles:
- Master of Sciences with 120 ECTS, with four semesters at 30 ECTS, in two years : M1 and M2;
- M1 in one university, giving a common ground in the basic disciplines;
- M2 in a second University, offering a major or a speciality;
- The fourth semester is devoted to the thesis, with a research most often conducted in a developing country, in connection with one of the Associate Partners;
- Summer courses are organised before the M1 (orientation week) or in between the M1 and M2 (research methodology workshop on Climate Change and Agriculture).
In master ACT, mobility of the students in two different Universities in Europe is compulsory. Students follow the year 1 in one university and they move to the second University on the second year.
This system allows to mobilise the best expertise in Europe in the domains involved. It also develops the capacity to handle climate change in agriculture in very different cultural, scientific and professional environments and to diversify the professional networks of the graduates.
Carried by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, specialised trainers and professionals involved in agricultural development in developing countries, the Master is a joint degree based on a robust and simple system of mobilities between EU partners.
The M1 : consolidate your disciplinary basis
The M1 is offered in parallel in three universities: Seville, Montpellier and Galway. Candidates have to choose between the three M1 from the moment of the application. The training objectives at the M1 level are the same in the three Universities where a M1 is offered, whereas the structure of the course may vary in each of them.
In Montpellier and Seville, the M1 programmes are offered in French and in Spanish respectively to welcome students from francophone Africa and Latina America. However a minimum level in English is required at admission and more and more courses are taught in English all along the year, with the goal that at the end of the M1, all students reach a level of 6.5 IELTS, which is considered as the minimum level to follow any specialisation course in English during the M2.
In Galway, the M1 programme is totally offered in English, and in the case of the students candidates for a training track starting in Galway, a minimum level of 6 at IELTS, from the application phase, is required.
The function of the M1 is to provide the students with basic competences in the different disciplines mobilised in the domain of agriculture and climate change, and to prepare them (possibly through a number of options) to the specialisation in the M2.
The programme of the M1, wherever it is offered, is a combination of agricultural sciences (plant and animal sciences, soil sciences), environmental sciences (ecology, meteorological sciences, natural resources & biodiversity management) and social sciences (environmental economics, development economics, management, innovation systems).
