Special thanks go to the students who participated in this 1st BIP course, for their time and efforts to complete the programme. The course certainly gave them the opportunity to learn about the differences, the challenges and the similarities of the animal husbandry systems in the different countries. Nevertheless, the students came up with suggestions to make these systems more sustainable and future-proof. And off-course, they learned a lot by working together and gained knowledge and skills to work in an international surrounding. All the participants gained vast learnings about the know-how on international communication skills in different aspects.
Futureproof livestock farming
We report the successful completion on the 24th of March 2023 of the first Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) course that combined both physical and virtual learning. The BIP course was organized by four different higher education institutions from 4 different Erasmus+ programme countries, Finland (SeAMK - Proponent), Netherlands (HAS green academy), Portugal (IPC-ESAC) and Spain (UVA-ETSIIAA) and was funded by the Erasmus+ mobility programme. The course “Future proof animal production system” began with a physical learning session in the organising country, Finland (SeAMK) from the 6th to the 10th of March. The virtual learning sessions were held from the 13th to the 24th of March 2023. A total of 20 students attended the course and successfully completed all the objectives defined in the course.
It was extremely informative, because as you interact with students from other countries, you see many similarities, but also differences between livestock systems.
Who are involved?
From The Netherlands, the university of applied sciences HAS green academy, the teachers that were involved were Ellen den Hertog and Ronald Sol and the students from the study programme animal husbandry: Joep van Riel, Marcel de Leeuw, Kim Duizer, Bente van Eeden, Nienke de Wit, Mathijs van Hulsen, Sanne Schaars and Rick van der Zanden.
From Spain from Universidad de Valladolid, ETSIIAA (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenierías Agrarias), the teachers involved were Beatriz Urbano and Raúl Araújo and the students Clara Vargas, Lucía Alonso,, María Ruíz and Inés Gómez
From Portugal, from the Polytechnique Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra Agriculture College (ESAC), the teachers that were involved were Pedro Pinto Bravo and R. P. Roberto da Costa and the participating students were Joanne Hovenkamp, Alexandre Penicheiro, Lúcio Paiva, Simão Carrola and Pedro Lencastre, all from the bachelor’s degree course in Organic Agriculture (LAB).
It is the intention of the organising committee and the ERASMUS+ International Relations Office to continue in future with this Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) course in “Future proof animal production system” of 3 ECTS.
The start was a great succes!
