Curriculum
First year
- Business management and finance - 12 ECTS
- Management basics
- Financial accounting and business evaluation
- Economic fundamentals of the agri-food system - 10 ECTS
- Economics of the agri-food system
- Microeconomics of the agri-food system
- Agricultural and food marketing - 6 ECTS
- Food safety management - 10 ECTS
- Food protection management
- Food risk: analysis and management
- Industrial organisation - 10 ECTS
- Strategic decision making
- Industrial organisation of the food system
- Quantitative methods - 12 ECTS
- Applied mathematics and statistics for the agri-food system
- Applied econometrics for the agri-food system
- Research methods in agricultural and food economics - 1 ECTS
Second year
- Agricultural and food market institutions - 6 ECTS
- Economics of agricultural and food markets - 7 ECTS
- Optional courses* - 10 ECTS
- Final dissertation - 20 ECTS
- Seminars - 1 ECTS
- Soft skills and entrepreneurship - 1 ECTS
A) Track in Marketing and consumer behaviour
- Multi-channel retail marketing - 5 ECTS
- Food consumer psychology and market intelligence - 5 ECTS
- Qualitative research methods for the agri-food system - 5 ECTS
B) Track in Business and Management a.y. 2022/23
- Food supply chain management - 5 ECTS
- Business planning for start-up - 5 ECTS
- Business strategy and leadership - 5 ECTS
* Suggested optional courses:
- Law and regulation in food value chains - 5 ECTS
- Agricultural, food and environmental policies - 5 ECTS
- Economics of sustainability and circularity - 5 ECTS
- Food footprint: the environmental impact of the agri-food chain - 5 ECTS
- Italian language and civilisation (only for non-Italian students) - 5 ECTS
Double degree and exchange opportunities
Double Degree with Wageningen University (the Netherlands)
The Double Degree is an agreement between SMEA and the Wageningen University (The Netherlands) that gives students the chance to attend the second year at Wageningen University and obtain both degrees, thanks to a jointly supervised thesis.
Thanks to the mutual recognition of ECTS credits and a thesis supervised by professors from both universities, students participating in the Double Degree will receive both degrees.
Admission to the programme is based on merit and knowledge of English, an essential tool to be able to follow courses held in both universities.
For each academic year a maximum of 3 students can enter the programme.
The AFEPA Programme is offered by a consortium of 4 European partner universities (the University of Bonn, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, the Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium) and the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milano, Italy) and three associated partners (Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago). Participating students spend one year each at two of the European partner universities with the possibility of a short exchange visit to an associated partner university, obtaining a double degree by the two Universities the students attend.
Exchange programmes
Moreover in the context of the exchange programmes of Università Cattolica, the students of the MSc in Agricultural and Food economics have exclusive access to the following universities:
EUROPE
- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Bonn, Germany)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Uppsala, Sweden)
- Technical University of Munich (Freising, Germany)
- Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)
USA
- Iowa State University (Ames, Iowa)
- North Dakota State University (Fargo, North Dakota)
- University of California (Davis, California)*
AUSTRALIA
- James Cook University (Townsville, Australia)
- RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia)
* For University of California at Davis students compete with other MSc students of the Faculty of Agriculture.
The number of available places is limited and students participating in all the exchange programmes are selected based on merit and knowledge of English. All these exchange programmes are financed by specific grants.
Career opportunities
Some examples:
- managerial positions in agri-food corporations (multi-national food companies, small and medium enterprises, retail chains);
- managerial positions in professional associations linked to the agricultural and food sector;
- consultants for agricultural and food companies;
- professional positions in international organisations;
- research positions in universities or applied research companies.
Programme dates
For reference: Find here the calendar of the Faculty of Agricultural, food and environmental sciences for the academic year 2023/24.
Participation to the Orientation Event is highly recommended – Find details here!