Master in Environmental Agrobiology

Objectives and competences

Objectives and competences

Objectives

Gain up-to-date scientific training in the field of environmental agrobiology.
Develop skills in conventional, current and innovative methods and instrumental techniques applied to environmental agrobiology.
Design and develop projects, draw conclusions, and communicate them with scientific and technical rigour.

Competences

• Knowledge forming the basis or opportunity of original thinking in the development and/or application of ideas, typically in a research context.
• Capacity to apply the acquired knowledge to problem-solving in new or relatively unknown environments within broader or multidisciplinary contexts related to the field of studies.
• Capacity to integrate knowledge and tackle the complexity of formulating judgements based on incomplete or limited information, giving due consideration to the social and ethical responsibilities involved in applying knowledge and making judgements.
• Capacity to communicate knowledge and conclusions and the grounds on which they have been reached to specialist and non-specialist audiences in a clear and unambiguous manner.
• Skills to enable lifelong self-directed and independent learning.

• Skills to search for, analyse and summarize highly specialized scientific and technical information, including a capacity for understanding, reasoning and scientific criticism.
• Basic research skills in the field of environmental agrobiology.
• Capacity to identify the objectives, purposes, and priorities of projects or tasks, and to organize appropriate deadlines and resources.
• Capacity to assess and select the most appropriate theory and method to solve specific problems in environmental agrobiology, including skills in handling specific instruments and obtaining and interpreting experimental results.
• Critical attitude in specialized projects in the field of environmental agrobiology, and a capacity to make judgements and defend them rigorously using scientific language.
• Capacity to assess social, legal and ethical responsibilities as well as the sociological and environmental impact of the use of certain techniques and applications in environmental agrobiology.

• Capacity to assess the current state and future prospects of environmental agrobiology in relation to the improvement and management of crops, as well as their socioeconomic and environmental implications.
• Capacity to carry and improve crops through conventional methods and the most advanced technologies, such as molecular tools, in vitro culture and transgenesis.
• Capacity to analyse the effects of environmental factors and the impact generated by climate change on plant metabolism, and its impact on the improvement of crop production and their quality.
• Capacity to assess the quality of soils in order to prevent and control nutritional deficiencies to improve crop production and quality.
• Capacity to describe the response mechanisms of plants to different situations of environmental stress, the procedures to attenuate it, and thus collaborate in the development of commercial products to mitigate crop stress.
• Knowledge of the bases and abilities in the application of relevant technologies, such as remote, ecophysiological and molecular perception techniques, to monitor, evaluate production and diagnose the nutritional status and stress crops can undergo.
• Capacity to design and obtain transgenic plants, and to evaluate their efficacy and the risks of applying these techniques to plant improvement, through the manipulation of plant metabolism, adaptation to adverse environments and the improvement of qualitative parameters, and also in their use as biofactories.
• Capacity to apply the knowledge acquired to design and carry out research work on environmental agrobiology: to formulate a hypothesis, to select the methodology and carry out the research, to execute a statistical analysis protocol, to interpret and write the results (in a clear and concise manner), to discuss them and elaborate reasoned conclusions.
• Capacity to transfer the knowledge acquired (scientific, methodological and technical) to the agri-food sector, collaborating with companies in the sector or creating and managing a company.

Access and admission

Applicant profile and access requirements

Recommended applicant profile

Access requirements and conditions

• Official Spanish university degree.


• A degree issued by a higher education institution within the European Higher Education Area framework that authorizes the holder to access university master's degree courses in the country of issue.


• A qualification issued by an institution outside the framework of the European Higher Education Area. In this case, applicants must request homologation of the degree to its equivalent official Spanish university qualification or obtain express approval from the University of Barcelona, which will conduct a study of equivalence to ensure that the degree is of a comparable level to an official Spanish university qualification and that it grants access to university master's degree study in the country of issue. Admission shall not, in any case, imply that prior qualifications have been recognized as equivalent to a Spanish master's degree and does not confer recognition for any purposes other than that of admission to the master's degree course.

• Bachelor's or pre-EHEA degrees in Biology, Environmental Sciences, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Food Science and Technology and Enology.


• Agricultural, chemical and forestry engineering.


• Technical agricultural and forestry engineering.


• Technical engineering in agricultural and livestock farming, fruit and vegetable farming, gardening, agricultural and food industries.

Pre-enrolment

Calendar

Notes:

• Pre-enrolment fee: A pre-enrolment fee of 30,21 euros is charged. Students who apply to more than one master's degree must pay the fee for each pre-enrolment request. Pre-enrolment requests cannot be processed until this fee has been paid.Fees will only be refunded if the master's degree in question is suspended.
• Reserved places: A maximum of 5% of the new places of the master's degree are reserved for students who meet the general and specific access requirements and accredit the recognition of a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33%.

Required documentation

• Pre-enrolment application
  
• Photocopy of degree certificate or equivalent qualification. In case of admission, foreign degrees that require so should be translated and authenticated through diplomatic channels before completing the enrolment.
  
• Other specific documentation related to the selection criteria

Selection criteria

• Academic record (70%).


• Professional or research experience (15%)


• Letter or letters of reference from university lecturers or researchers at research centres (10%)


• Student's interest in the master's degree, assessed by a statement of interest (5%).

Notification

• Admission List
  • First period
  • Second period

• Reservation
  Admitted candidates must make a payment of 300 euros to reserve their place. The payment of 300 euros will be made on account of the enrolment fee and must be paid within seven calendar days (non-extendable) from the date on which the payment receipt is generated, which will be duly notified to the interested party by email. This amount will not be refunded in the event that the student does not enrol in the master's degree course. Once this amount has been paid, a copy of the payment must be sent to the e-mail address mastersoficialsbio@ub.edu within a maximum period of three calendar days from the date of payment. If the payment confirmation email has not been received within this period, the place will be forfeited.<

Enrolment

As a general rule, at the UB you will be required to enrol online. Remember that you can lose your place if you do not enrol on the day you have been assigned

• Documents required for enrolment
• Procedure to formalize enrolment
• Grants and financial aid (in Catalan)
• Economic information (in Catalan)

Enrolment calendar

• July: 15–30.
• September: 12–30.

Welcome

• Student Support Service
• Grants and financial aid (in Catalan)
• Accommodation

Course curriculum

Subjects and course plans

Distribution of credits

List of subjects

Previous years

• Course plans 2023 - 2024
• Course plans 2022 - 2023
• Course plans 2021 - 2022

Teaching staff

Placements

Placements in a company or another type of organization are an integral part of university studies, providing first-hand experience of working methodologies in students' chosen professional fields. They offer invaluable practical experience for the transition into work after graduation.

Placements are supervised by tutors and subject to assessment. They are therefore included in the academic record. There is also an option to complete non-curricular placements of up to 500 hours. For both curricular and non-curricular placements, an educational cooperation agreement is signed between the UB and the company, institution or other organization at which the placement will be carried out.

Institutional information

• Regulations on external placements
• FeinaUB

Career opportunities

What can you work on ?

• Direction, management and control of research, development and innovation in agrobiological companies, cooperatives and agrifood industry.
• Direction and management of agricultural companies, horticultural centres, nurseries, and garden centres.
• Professional activity in the agriculture and livestock sector and in crop farming and improvement.
• Professional activity in industries related to agriculture and the agrifood industry.
• Consultancy and advice on agricultural, forestry and environmental research.
• Consultancy on integrated management of plagues. (The ECTS credits awarded as part of this master's degree for subjects related to plant protection can be used towards accreditation as an integrated pest management [IPM] advisor, DOGC no. 6408, of 2-7-2013.)
• Evaluation of research, development and innovation projects.
• Edition and advice on informative scientific texts.
• Professional activity in government bodies (agriculture and the environment).

Access to the labour market

Contact us