The Degree Course in Agricultural Science and Technologies provides core competences in the agricultural sector, with respect, in particular, to the technologies and control of plant and animal productions in their qualitative, quantitative and hygienic-sanitary aspects, to the transformation and marketing of products, to the management of agricultural farms, to the evaluation of land, equipment, technical means and products.
Graduates of this course should acquire core competences in propaedeutic subjects such as Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Plant and animal Biology, which are needed to understand the principles of specific professional subjects. These competences will enable students to achieve a professional grounding including the agronomic principles of cultivations and of crop defence as well as livestock breeding principles
Graduates will possess 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. They will also acquire knowledge about the main industry regulations and the principles of forestry economics and evaluation needed for autonomous professional activities such as planning and settling of agricultural firms, evaluation of land, technical means, agricultural equipment and products; projects and valuations of herbaceous and tree systems; land exploitation and amelioration; rural development and technical-economic management of farms, protected areas and processing companies. The profile requires the dialectical skills needed to disclose and argue 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 to tackle and solve the following issues:
- Sustainable management and development of agricultural and environmental assets;
- Agricultural economics and policy, land and environment evaluation;
- Open air and protected tree, grass, vegetables and flower farming techniques;
- Techniques of livestock production;
- Agricultural Mechanics and mechanization of crop and livestock farms;
- Agricultural Hydraulics, irrigation systems and their design;
- Storage and processing of agricultural and livestock products;
- Defence of the crops and the environment from biotic and abiotic damages;
Educational activities consist of lectures, laboratory and field practice and mid-term testing.
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 examinations, 1 elective examination, a test of computing skills, a language test and a practical training period in external facilities and the final examination about specific course issues.
The 12 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 Faculty of Agriculture of Palermo and other faculties of the University and other Italian and foreign universities.
At the end of the course students obtain the title Dottore in "Scienze e Tecnologie Agrarie and, national professional qualification exam, may register in Section B (Agronomist Junior) of Professional Registrar of “Dottori Agronomi e Forestali”.
Making judgments:
Undergraduates are able to conduct autonomously, identifying appropriate methodologies, the surveys required to characterize the physical and biotic agricultural environment and, processing the data collected, to make technical and project interventions on a small scale or to collaborate to more complex projects, and to critically evaluate the social and environmental implications and the technical and financial results of the actions.
The expected learning outcomes are achieved by developing the student’s ability to compare different solutions of the problem being treated through the drafting of specific projects.
The assessment of the expected learning outcomes is carried out testing, in mid-term and final examinations, the critical skills as well as the ability to predict the effects of the choices.
Communication skills
Undergraduates, having acquired critical analysis skills, also develop the ability to transfer and disseminate, in both written and oral form, with clear and understandable technical-scientific language to the various levels of the operators of the industry, their analyses, theses, professional solutions and proposals, as well as the effects on various socio-environmental components.
The expected learning outcomes are achieved with the students’ ability to present the knowledge acquired, in oral or written form, during the examination.
The assessment is carried out through a judgment on the presentation skills, with respect to the issues dealt with, using a simple language specifically related to the course themes.
Learning skills:
In the context of the fundamental agricultural disciplines, undergraduates achieve learning skills enabling them to undertake a subsequent path of deepening and updating of scientific and technical issues of their competence.
The acquired grounding enable them to follow technical and scientific seminars to broaden the knowledge, with benefits for their professional career. The 1st cycle training also ensures a platform of adequate knowledge for the understanding of the issues proposed in the next level. The training program drives students to the knowledge of scientific research lines to-date and induces the ability to interface with scientific societies, academies and research institutes in the sector.
The expected learning outcomes are achieved by respecting the logical sequence and any prerequisites, provided for by the academic regulations of the degree course, of the course syllabus, with the goal of developing a knowledge base useful for understanding of the practical aspects.
The assessment, through examinations, aims to test the students’ ability to use the acquired basic or applied knowledge or application to solve new problems or to identify the need for further investigations.