Faculty from the Master’s in Agro-Food Technology and Quality, along with representatives from the Vice Rectorate for International Relations and the Service of International Relations, are participating in the B-Innova – Master in Food Technology program being coordinated by Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. This project is funded by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange through European funding as part of the KATAMARAN program. Its objective is to design and offer a dual master in the area of agro-food technology and quality.

Other participants in this project include School of Engineering of Orihuela (EPSO) faculty, who, besides teaching in the graduate program, are experienced in dual master and doctoral programs at the UMH. The project was chosen by the Polish agency given the long and close collaboration between both institutions since 2005, which has resulted in mobility of both students and faculty, joint applications for projects and, since 2016, offering joint doctoral programs.

As part of the Polish agency’s KATAMARAN program for academic exchanges, the universities will design a dual master in food technology. This master will offer students, in addition to the possibility of earning graduate degrees from both universities, opportunities to expand their expertise of regional and traditional products, on processing technology, and food distribution in both countries.

The project is to last 2 years, and the first workday took place in Wrocław on February 5 of this year between the UMH delegation and the academic and administrative team responsible for the master at the Polish university. UMH representatives included Master’s in Agro-Food Technology and Quality faculty, the Internationalization Area Director, and the Director of the Service of International Relations.

That first workday was dedicated to advancing the project’s first stage, and subsequent days offered training workshops on dual degrees and teaching techniques. This project plans for future visits to the UMH to further define the dual master, in addition to a subsequent work session in Wrocław to train the academic personnel who will lead classes for international groups.

This action is part of the UMH strategic line of internationalization, and more specifically, to advancing this institution’s participation in international graduate networks and programs. Moreover, it also provides continuity to the work carried out by the master’s faculty that is based on the Orihuela Campus.