YEAR 1
The first year provides the basics in terms of plant breeding and connected topics to the students, such as crop production, genetics, breeding, statistics etc. The students will deepen their knowledge of basic science related to breeding, the breeding strategies and the legal and administrative rules of the seed business.
LAS - INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE UNILASALLE
(Beauvais - France)
| Course name | ECTS |
| Interculturality & Ethics | 1 |
| Introduction to seed business | 4 |
| Introduction to algorithmics | 1 |
| Statistics | 2 |
| Plant Reproduction Systems | 2 |
| Plant Genetics 1 | 3 |
| Plant Genetic Resources and diversity | 4 |
| Introduction to Plant Pathology | 3 |
| Breeding strategies and Methods of Selection | 5 |
| Pilot Case 1 | 3 |
| French as a Foreign Language | 2 |
| Spanish as a Foreign Language* | ** |
| Total | 30 |
* Y1 Mandatory for students with Spanish <B2 who selected UPV as destination for Y2
** No ECTS but an official language certificate
Joint courses
| Course name | ECTS |
| Plant Microbe Interaction | 5 |
| Phenotyping | 4 |
| Plant Genetics 2 | 5 |
| Seed and Plant Production and Certification Regulation Guidelines | 4 |
| Internship + Minor Thesis | 5 |
| Pilot case 2 | 3 |
| Intellectual Property & Plant Breeders’ Rights | 2 |
| French as a Foreign Language | 2 |
| Spanish as a Foreign Language* | ** |
| Summer Breeding Field Camp | - |
| Total | 30 |
Joint courses
SLU - THE SWEDISH UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES
(Uppsala – Sweden)
| Course name | ECTS |
| Introduction to Plant Biology for Sustainable Production | 15 |
| Plant Growth and Development | 15 |
| Pilot Case 1 | * |
| Swedish as a Foreign Language | *** |
| Spanish as a Foreign Language** | *** |
| Total | 30 |
* ECTS included in the previous courses of 15 ECTS
** Y1 Mandatory for students with Spanish <B2 who selected UPV as destination for Y2
*** Offered by a private school. No ECTS but an official language certificate
Joint courses
| Course name | ECTS |
| Plant Biology for Breeding and Protection | 15 |
| Sustainable Plant Production - from Molecular to Field Scale | 15 |
| Pilot Case 2 | * |
| Intellectual Property & Plant Breeders’ Rights | * |
| Swedish as a Foreign Language | *** |
| Spanish as a Foreign Language** | *** |
| Summer Breeding Field Camp | * |
| Total | 30 |
* ECTS included in the previous courses of 15 ECTS
** Y1 Mandatory for students with Spanish <B2 who selected UPV as destination for Y2
*** Offered by a private school. No ECTS but an official language certificate
Joint courses
YEAR 2
During the second year the students will be trained in bioinformatics, big data applied to plant breeding. Year 2 will provide the students with the opportunity to specialize in different crops: breeding of forest trees/field crops, breeding of fruit (trees)/ornamentals or grapevine/vegetables.
Modern biotechnological tools used in plant breeding are an integral part of any of the specialization courses. During their specialization year, students will learn at each university how to use traditional and biotechnological tools and ‘-omics’ (metabolomics, genomics etc.) to solve specific breeding situations.
UPV - Universitat Politècnica de València
(Valencia- Spain)
| Course name | ECTS |
| Plant Breeding for Resistance to Stresses | 5 |
| Breeding for Crop Quality | 5 |
| Fruit (Tree) Species Breeding | 5 |
| Ornamental Plants Breeding | 5 |
| Transgenic Plants | 4 |
| Pilot Case 3 | 2 |
| Big Data | 2 |
| Bio informatics | 2 |
| Total | 30 |
Joint courses
| Course name | ECTS |
| Master Thesis | 30 |
| Total | 30 |
UH - University of Helsinki
(Helsinki – Finland)
| Course name | ECTS |
| Personal Study Plan (PSP) | 0 |
| Breeding of Crop Plants (in 2019 and 2021) or Forest Tree Breeding (in 2020) |
5 |
| Scientific Writing and Seminar | 5 |
| Literature | 4 |
Optional courses in S3:
|
10 |
| Pilot Case 3 | 2 |
| Big Data | 2 |
| Bio informatics | 2 |
| Finnish | * |
| Total | 30 |
* No ECTS but an official language certificate
Joint courses
| Course name | ECTS |
| Master Thesis | 30 |
Optional courses in S4:
|
* |
| Finnish | ** |
| Total | 30 |
* If you choose 5 ECTS here, your MSc thesis will be started in S3 and you can choose only 5 ECTS optional courses in S3
** No ECTS but an official language certificate
EgeU - Ege University
(Izmir – Turkey)
| Course name | ECTS |
| Hybrid Breeding | 3 |
| Vegetable Breeding | 4 |
| QTL Analysis | 3 |
| Fruit Breeding/Genetics | 3 |
| Grapevine Breeding/Genetics | 4 |
| Gene Technologies and Biosafety | 4 |
| Biochemical Changes during Fruit Maturation | 3 |
| Pilot Case 3 | 2 |
| Big Data | 2 |
| Bio informatics | 2 |
| Turkish | * |
| Total | 30 |
* No ECTS but an official language certificate
Joint courses
| Course name | ECTS |
| Master Thesis | 30 |
| Turkish | * |
| Total | 30 |
* No ECTS but an official language certificate
Master thesis during S4
In S4 the students will write their Master thesis, in UH they can already start with their thesis in S3.
During their thesis they have several possibilities:
a) Stay at their host university and use their facilities and equipment
b) Perform a collaborative project with a seed company or another research center in the country of their host university
c) Perform a collaborative project in a partner university, seed company or research center abroad (Programme or Partner Country)
Internships regulations
The regulations at LAS for the S2 internships are a minimum duration of 8 weeks and a maximum of 14 weeks at an organisation linked to the field of studies.
Internships in S4 can be carried out either at a company or a research organisation linked to plant breeding in the host country or abroad (collaborative projects between the host university and the company/research organisation). They are not mandatory but encouraged.