Master's degree Agrosciences, Environment, Territories, Landscape, Forest Track Agri-Environmental Management and Valorisation
Course overview
The master’s programme in Agrosciences, Environment, Territories, Landscape, Forest specialised in Agri-Environmental Management and Valorisation encompasses all fields (from organisms to landscapes) and disciplines (theoretical, functional, applied) related to ecology and agronomy. As such, the programme focuses especially on the constant interaction between the needs in natural areas management and rural landscape and agriculture.
This two-year full-time programme prepares you to protect and manage species and natural areas thanks to agricultural tools and hand in hand with agriculture professionals.
Highlights
The master’s programme in Agrosciences, Environment, Territories, Landscape, Forest offers a unique transversal training:
- Protection and management of natural areas: natural history and ecology
- Agri-environment: solid knowledge in agriculture and economical constraints of farmers, in order to work along with them in the natural area
Moreover, this course is field-oriented: to provide better teaching and career opportunities,
- Year 2 offers field trips to meet professionals
- Among the 370 contact hours in Year 2, 220 hours (40% of the programme) are taught or jointly taught by professionals working in natural areas or agricultural structures, including local and national partnerships.
Application requirements
Entry requirements
To enter this master’s, you should
- Graduate from a solid course in population, communities and functional ecology
- Master fundamentals in ecophysiology as well as natural history (botany, entomology, mammalogy, ornithology)
Specific conditions
If you successfully completed Year 1 of this master's, you will enter Year 2 automatically.
In exceptional cases, Year 2 might have places left for students who completed another Year 1 in an Ecology course.
Course structure
Courses
- Take place on site in campus 1 (Caen) in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Caen Normandy
- Include compulsory internships (one each year)
Course units
Field training is at the core of the Agrosciences, Environment, Territories, Landscape, Forest master’s programme. As such, the curriculum includes:
Internships in the 2nd and the 4th semesters (2-month and 6-month long)
- 1 field course unit in littoral areas (1st semester)
- 1 field course unit in continental areas (2nd semester)
In Year 1, the following units are compulsory:
- 1st semester
- Practical approach in ecology
- Littoral biology: field studies
- Littoral biology: adaptation of organisms
- Ecosystem functioning: adaptation of organisms
- Agro-ecology
- English and Statistics
- 2nd semester
- Conservation biology and restoration ecology
- Continental ecosystems: field studies
- Applied ecology tools
- Professional project and geography instrumentation systems
- Internship: essay
- Ecological and morpho-sedimentary approaches in coastal areas (optional: you must choose between this course unit and the course unit below)
- Domesticated and undomesticated ethology (optional: you must choose between this course unit and the course unit above)
In Year 2, many professionals in protection and management of species and natural areas or agricultural areas intervene in class. The idea is to give you a comprehensive idea of the careers you can pursue.
As such, in the 3rd semester, many field trips and meetings with natural area managers and agriculture professionals are organised. The course units focus on theoretical knowledge:
- Landscape ecology
- Natural history expertise
- Natural patrimony management
- Littoral and forest biocenosis
- Agricultural exploitation systems
- Agronomy
- Environment tools (law, impact studies, geography instrumentation systems)
- Scientific English
The 4th semester is dedicated to professional experience, with two supervised projects (one being individual and the other being in team) and the end-of-studies internship.
Internships and placements
The master’s includes two compulsory internships:
- Year 1, 2nd semester: minimum 2 months in April and May
- Year 2, 2nd semester: minimum 6 months from the second half of March to the second half of September
Each internship will be evaluated through a detail written report and an oral presentation of this report.
Coursework and assessment
The course lasts 2 years and is divided in 4 semesters, each comprising several courses units. Assesment is held through coursework or final exams (at the end of each semester) in each course, and is graded on a scale from 0 to 20, 20 being the best grade. Grade compensation is organized without eliminatory marks and on the basis of the general average obtained in every course unit.
The 2 units in the 2nd semester compensate each other (one unit with theoretical courses and one unit with the internship).
To successfully complete a semester, you must have an average mark of at least 10 points out of 20. If you have not completed your semester, you can retake the courses units you failed; you do not have to retake the courses in which you have obtained at least 10 pts out of 20.
Language
French
Learning outcome
By the end of this course, you will be acquire knowledge and skills in:
- Populations, communities, ecosystems and landscapes ecology
- Ecophysiology and functional ecology
- Natural sciences, botany, phytosociology and habitat typology, entomology
- Ecology engineering: conservation biology, management and habitat restoration
- Natural area management, habitat and species
- Environment tools (law, geography information science)
- Agronomy, agri-environment, politics and agricultural economy
- Plant, animal, habitat, landscape expertise
- Functional analysis of agricultural exploitations
- Integrated agricultural management
- Communication (writing, computer-assisted publishing, English)
Further study
Although the master’s aims at pursuing in-the-field careers, you can also pursue doctoral studies.
Careers
The master’s programme in Agrosciences, Environment, Territories, Landscape, Forest can work in:
- Natural heritage protection
- Flora
- Fauna
- Biodiversity
- Nature reserve management
- Ecology
- Agri-environment consulting
- Environment
You can pursue careers in fields such as:
- Public services
- Environmental associations
- Private consulting
Address
Université de Caen Normandie
UFR des Sciences
Esplanade de la Paix · CS 14032 · 14032 Caen Cedex 5
France