The Degree Course in Agricultural Science and Technologies (STA) provides competences in the agricultural sector, with respect, in particular, to the technologies and management of plant and animal productions in their qualitative, quantitative and hygienic-sanitary aspects, to the transformation and marketing of products, to the technical-economical management of agricultural farms, to the application of rural development policies and to the evaluation of land, equipment, technical means and products.
Graduates of this course should acquire core competences in subjects such as Mathematics, Chemistry, Plant and animal Biology, Agricultural genetics, which are propaedeutic to professional competences. This professional groundings includes the principles of agronomy, agro-ecology, as well as the principles of crop defence and of livestock breeding.
During the course, students will acquire the knowledge of the techniques for surveying animal and plant biological parameters, enabling them to carry out field surveys and the relevant qualitative and quantitative processing needed to understand the production and transformation processes of agricultural products and the preservation of rural heritage. They will also acquire the principles of hydraulics, agricultural mechanics and agricultural economics, as well as of rural and market development policies, of the tools for evaluating landed property, for designing and evaluating cultivation systems and for the technical-economic management of conventional and organic agricultural farms, as well as of transformation companies, which are indispensable for carrying out their professional activity.
The profile also requires the dialectical skills needed to disclose and discuss individual technical ideas with specialists and non-specialists, command of English language or of another European language, which is necessary for reading and interpreting technical texts, for professional exchanges and for basic dissemination.
Acquired competences will enable graduates, in their role of junior agronomists, to tackle and solve the following issues:
- the cultivation techniques of plant species (trees, herbs, vegetables and flowers) and operation of conventional and organic livestock systems;
- agricultural mechanics and mechanization of crops and livestock farms;
- interventions of hydraulic-agrarian arrangement and design of irrigation and drainage systems;
- processing and conservation of plant and livestock products;
- environmental and crop protection from abiotic and biotic adversities;
- sustainable management, protection and enhancement of the agricultural and environmental heritage;
- the economy of the agricultural company, the agro-environmental policy and the valuation of land assets.
Furthermore, first-level training provides the knowledge needed suitable for understanding the themes proposed in 2nd cycle courses.
Educational activities consist of lectures, laboratory and field practice.
The course lasts three academic years. To achieve the degree, students should have acquired 180 credits (CFU), including the ones related to the knowledge of an European Union language, besides Italian, subject to the special rules for the protection of linguistic minorities.
The educational programme provides for 19 mandatory exams and elective subjects, the English language test, laboratories (including technical English for agriculture), a practical training period in external facilities and the final examination aiming at assessing students’ basic and specific knowledge.
The elective credits may be acquired, in accordance with article 10, paragraph 5, letter a) of DM 270/04, choosing freely among teachings provided by other courses of the University of Palermo and of other Italian and foreign universities.
At the end of the course students obtain the title Dottore in "Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie and, after passing the national professional qualification exam, they may register in Section B (Agronomist Junior) of Professional Registrar of “Dottori Agronomi e Forestali”.