Master of Plant Health in Sustainable Cropping Systems

The European Master degree in Plant Health inSustainable Cropping Systems (PlantHealth) is a fully integrated and globally competitive Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree, designed by leading European universities in the field of Crop Protection, that provides top-level and up-to-date education, qualifying graduates to cope with the challenges in contemporary and future plant health management related to global food safety issues. Universitat Politècnica de València is the coordinating institution of the PlantHealth Consortium.

PlantHealth– European Master Degree in PLANT HEALTH IN SUSTAINABLE CROPPING SYSTEMS is organized by a consortium of six Universities from four European countries: Montpellier SupAgro, Agrocampus Ouest and AgroParis Tech (France), University of Göttingen (Germany), University of Padova (Italy) and Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). These Universities are highly proficient and experienced in teaching courses on general and specific aspects of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). All partners have an excellent reputation in research on various fundamental and applied aspects in plant health management and keep strong links with enterprises of the plant protection sector and research institutes in Europe.

PlantHealth management is a crucial subject of global development about food safety, food security, and environmental preservation. With the increasing globalization and climate change, new diseases and pests threatening agricultural production will occur and have to be tackled. In many parts of the world, plant protection products are not used according to advanced regulatory and safety standards. A key issue is the need to consider the population dynamics of pests, pathogens, or weeds in the context of the whole agro-ecosystem, including beneficial and the impact of the cropping system. The development of safe crop protection methods requires the education of highly skilled professionals for crop protection management in sustainable agriculture in the developed countries and the developing world. This is the core mission of the European Master Degree in Plant Health in sustainable cropping systems.

PlantHealth represents an innovation in its interdisciplinary focus, giving clear priority to problematic research areas and global policy issues. A distinctive and essential feature of the Consortium is the emphasis on applied research and teaching applicable in plant health management.

PlantHealth provides students with an attractive and innovative program that shall allow them to develop the ability to see plant health in a broad context with a focus on sustainability, taking into account all relevant agronomic factors, like plant variety, nutrition, soil tillage, crop rotation, etc. Students will obtain the skills and knowledge of advanced mycology, virology, entomology, nematology, and weed science to efficiently analyze or diagnose biotic and abiotic constraints in Sustainable Cropping Systems' productivity.