Programme
Structure and Degree
Overview of the two years
The programme aims to open to disciplines that provide a global understanding of the food systems, including technological and non-technological issues. It has brought forward the comparative advantages of each partner, thus giving the fundamental structure of the joint master’s programme.
The courses will be presented in a blended learning mode.
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S1 where the basics in food and consumers sciences (30 ECTS) will be taught, will take place in France (L'Institut Agro Dijon - UBFC), complemented by the courses “Agri-food business and marketing” and ”Applied food technology” provided as online courses by UNITE (Italy).
The very first week will be dedicated to basics on sustainability approach and entrepreneurship. These two domains will be developed during the other semesters and/or the summer/winter schools. During S1, students will be trained under a multidisciplinary approach to the fundamental bases of the key fields of food science. They will also learn the use and application of digital tools to food science. During the first week of this semester, a seminar will be organized to welcome students and introduce the notion of food systems sustainability and its controversies. In general, students will acquire communication, reporting, scientific English writing soft skills.
The teaching units of part 1 are common with the students of the two other international Master's degrees, MP² and P2FOOD.
S2 (30 ECTS) will be devoted to two pre-specialization tracks:
- Track 1: Food design and Innovation-Food Safety (mobility at UNITE, Teramo in Italy)
- Track 2: Consumers and Food Processing (mobility at SUA, Nitra in Slovakia)
All the elective courses of the track will be chosen from a well-defined catalogue upon advice of the academic team.
Local language and culture courses are mandatory at the 2 locations, but do not provide ECTS. During this second semester, soft skills acquired will be team working, critical thinking, communication, time management, works ethics (intellectual properties, patent…). The teaching approach will be students-centred and the students will be active through project management and problem-based learning.
S3 (30 ECTS) will be devoted to the specialization on the application of data and digital science to food science. This semester will be held at L'Institut Agro Dijon. Most of the courses will be new compared to the existing English-taught international Masters MP² and P2FOOD operated by L’Institut Agro Dijon.
The students will have to choose two optional modules from among the five proposed, to strengthen their previous hard skills or to discover new domains in data and digital sciences. The research project will help the students to acquire soft skills in terms of methodology and project management, job hunting, and networking complementary to skills that are more scientific.
The main component of S4 (30 ECTS) is a compulsory 6-months internship for the preparation of the master's thesis. Either in industry or in a research laboratory (in or out of the consortium partners) and, if possible, in a third location (compared to the choice of S2 track) to maximize students’ mobility. The internship will be validated by a defence and the writing of a Master's thesis.
Joint sessions
The Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP) will organize one week of summer camp every year at the end of the second semester. This week will allow the students to gather again, since they will have been spread out in the different European partners according to their pre-specializations. The faculty of Biotechnology from UCP (ESB) and the European Biotechnology Research Institute (EBRI) will be in charge of the summer camp. They will propose to students a more comprehensive understanding of how to go from an innovative idea to a real business in the domain of food technology, consumers, food design and innovation, food safety, digital science and food sustainability .
1st day: ideation process and design thinking
2nd day: marketing, competitiveness, and intellectual property
3rd day: establishing a business model
4th day: the financial aspect of a business
5th day : go-to-market strategy and pitching
The camp will include lectures and keynote sessions, teamwork, business mentoring, scientific mentoring, networking sessions including pitching and social events.
Every year, at the end of the third semester, the DIAMONDS Days will be held at Dijon. The DIAMONDS days are divided into three phases:
1 - For 2 days, the second-year students will present the results of their research projects done during the semester 3.
- These presentations will be organized as if the students were participating in an international conference. Also, scholars and international researchers will be invited as main speakers of the DIAMONDS days and reviewers of the student’s project. This event can be shared with the students of the other international majors of the STAAE Master (MP² and P2FOOD). The invited speakers will be chosen in agreement with the consortium partners and in function of the topics of the research projects.
2 - A 2.5-days job fair will be organized by a major French agri-food cluster, Vitagora.
- The first morning of the job fair, a conference about data and digital sciences, will be done conjointly by academics and industry professionals. The students will have a visit tour in local companies and food industries during the afternoon of the first day of the job fair. The second morning, an ideathon will take place. Indeed, three months before the DIAMONDS days, companies will propose an industrial challenge dedicated to the students. The Management Committee (MC) will select one of these challenges. The chosen challenge will be given to the students during the second day of the DIAMONDS days. Working within a group of 6/7 students, they will have to find some innovative solutions to the industrial challenge. The restitution will be done by the end of the second day. The third and last morning, the students will cook (for example, some crêpes) with human resources staff from local companies. The goal here will be to work as a team and discuss in an informal way with recruiters. They will practice funnily innovation, entrepreneurship, and recruitment sessions.
3 - One afternoon and evening of these DIAMONDS days will be dedicated to the graduation ceremony of the students from the previous year.
- This event will allow the students from different years to meet and share their experiences. It will allow them to create an active alumni network.
Degree
The DIAMONDS Master’s degree is based on the mutual recognition of the quality and the official accreditation of each of the awarded degrees at each university.
All the consortium HEIs agree to award their national degrees to students who study at each respective institution for only one semester. The awarding of the diploma results from equal application of commonly decided standards and common quality criteria. The Master is the result of the joint design, implementation, management, and evaluation of the programme.
Master Sciences, Technologies, Santé - Mention Sciences et Technologies de l’Agriculture, de l’Alimentation et de l’Environnement - L'Institut Agro Dijon
Laurea Magistrale in Food Science and Technology, UNITE
Diplom „Inžinier, v skratke „Ing.“ in Food Safety and Control, SUA
Mobility
Administrative registration in all institutions will be required. The students will be assisted in the process by the administrative coordinators in each country.
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