At MATE, the curriculum also keeps up with the digital challenges of agriculture

Thanks to an international project, a new master’s program can be launched at the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences in the long run, responding to the challenges of the digital agrarian and food industry. The program, which began last year, has already trained trainers and produced curricula on precision agriculture, robotics, drones, and smart solutions and innovations. The project is closely aligned with policy aspirations and further strengthens the role of MATE in the Kaposvár Campus area.

The REGIONal Strategies 4 FOOD 4.0 international project involves ministries of agriculture, regional development organizations and higher education institutions in seven countries. In the course of the program, MATE mainly examined how the “Digital Agriculture and Agri-Food Innovation” master’s degree program at the University of Seville could be transferred to the South Transdanubia region. As a first step, MATE instructors were trained and curriculum was developed, focusing on precision manufacturing, robots, drones, and smart solutions used in agriculture and the food industry. Renewed curricula will be evaluated with the involvement of students. “Explosive technological advances in agriculture have taken place in recent decades. One of MATE’s most important missions is to respond to these 21st century challenges and equip its students with up-to-date knowledge. This international project, the knowledge of which is integrated into agricultural training, also fits into this strategy. And all this fits in closely with the policy aspirations, ”dr. Dávid Mezőszentgyörgyi, Vice Rector, is the main patron of the program. He added that it is strategically important for the Kaposvár Campus to support the economic development of the region, and this role can be further strengthened thanks to the project.

The main goal of MATE is to integrate the project into Hungary’s Digital Agricultural Strategy in cooperation with the South Transdanubia Regional Innovation Agency. The program is implemented by the collaboration of several MATE institutes; the management is carried out by the Institute of Rural Development and Sustainable Economy, while the Institutes of Environmental Science and Technology took part in its professional implementation.

The Regions 4Food project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Hungarian State