Master in Global Environment and Development

Global Environment and Development (MERGED) is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master.

The course aims to create globally competitive graduates that can identify critical aspects of sustainable natural resource management for economic, environmental, institutional, and societal development in both the global south and the global north and develop sustainable, appropriate, and feasible solutions. The programme will educate high-quality digitallycompetent graduates to become professionals in private and public companies, I/NGOs, government bodies, and research institutions. Through interdisciplinary and disciplinary, multicultural real-life experiences and laboratory experiments, students will learn to identify, analyse, understand, and forecast complex systems. MERGES provides two curricula: in Agricultural Development (at the university of Milano) or in Sustainable Environmental Development (at the university of Warsaw).

The MERGED graduate with a specialization in Agricultural Development is an innovative professional figure, equipped with a solid technical-scientific culture, a broad multidisciplinary vision of the environmental and agricultural system and a high operational preparation to manage economic and productive activities related to agriculture and natural resources in a global framework and long-term sustainability. The figure can operate in international contexts, both in the North and in the South of the world. The MERGED professional figure in Sustainable Environmental Development is equipped with the ability to interpret the principles and processes that inform sustainable development on a global level from an economic, sociological, and legal point of view.

During the first year at the University of Copenhagen the student acquires skills also through practical and interdisciplinary courses, which include training visits in other continents. During the second year at the university of Milano the subjects offered are dealing with interdisciplinary disciplines of natural, environmental, and territorial resource management; disciplines of animal production; engineering disciplines and biosystem design; disciplines of the sustainability of crop production. The student refines his/her knowledge in the field of sustainability for agricultural systems, in particular by acquiring: a) knowledge with a strong applicative nature, based on case studies in real scenarios, on a global scale; b) skills with a technical and quantitative slant, based on scientific knowledge and acquisitions and on the applications of technological innovations. During the second year at the university of Warsaw, the students acquire a socio-economic and legal perspective on environmental issues from a global perspective. The aim is to allow the student to master the tools to be used in the analysis of the sustainability of the global environmental development.

As a consequence of the knowledge and skills acquired, the graduates in Global Environment and development: - have a solid technical and cultural preparation, a multidisciplinary and global vision, and a good command of the scientific methods of the sciences of environmental and agricultural sustainability - have in-depth knowledge of the qualitative criteria and quantitative methods necessary to plan, evaluate, and manage agricultural production systems and processes in a sustainable way, integrating the technical, economic, regulatory and environmental aspects, in a global context - know how to formulate and apply quantitative assessments using conceptual models and IT tools, to animal and plant production and to choose the most suitable and sustainable technologies - know how to manage the global climate change challenges to the management of water resources - know how to manage the technical and economic quality of products and processed products in the plant and animal production chains, to be able to operate in support of regulatory policies with governmental and non-governmental bodies, and private companies.

Expert, manager and consultant of policies and rural and environmental development in private companies, public administration and public bodies with international interests, and international organizations (governmental and non-governmental) in the agro-food sector.

In the private sector, the graduate can take on the organization, evaluation and management of the interaction between agri-environmental activities and systems. In the public sector, the graduate supports administrations on environmental and territorial policies, especially on issues related to sustainable husbandry and agricultural engineering. The international bodies are a preferred career opportunity provider. MERGED graduates can disseminate, within institutions, the principles of environmental sustainability, promote a culture oriented towards safety and the protection of the agricultural environment, also through the awareness of public opinion.

Skills associated with the function Those who complete the MERGED study path are able to carry out analyses, evaluations and monitoring of natural, territorial and environmental resources, carrying out environmental impact studies with tools deriving from social sciences, economics, law, agricultural business management and environmental planning. These tools are made available through the first-year interdisciplinary courses. The skills allow to operate in interdisciplinary and diversified contexts (such as those outlined by the European Green Deal and similar policies) and/or continue the studies with further masters and courses. Those who complete MERGED can contribute to: implementing and certifying environmental management systems in rural areas; carry out interventions on the production of goods and services to improve environmental quality; plan and implement interventions for the prevention of environmental risks, increasing safety, especially in agriculture. The professional trained by MERGED has a holistic vision and can synthesize complex ideas and concepts deriving from the analysis of the agricultural reality at a global level. Employment opportunities The skills acquired allow to work in companies and organizations that operate - even globally - in the green economy and bioeconomy; in professional studies dealing with territorial analyses, agricultural environmental impact assessment, resource management in rural environments. Those who complete the MERGED study cycle find employment in the public administration and in local public bodies; in supranational organizations; in universities or research institutes (in Italy, such as CNR, ENEA, CREA, State Technical Services, National and Regional Agencies and Bodies for the Environment and the Territory, Parks and Protected Areas, Watershed Authority, Technical Services and Regional, Provincial and Municipal Departments, Land Reclamation and Irrigation Consortia, Mountain Communities and Mountain Watershed Consortia). Furthermore, they can work at NGOs globally, where they are able to understand and design the development of agricultural systems even under conditions of climate change. The master's degrees of the LM-69 class allow to obtain the qualification for the profession of doctor of agronomy which can be accessed after a qualifying exam.

The University of Milan is a public teaching and research university, which - with 8 faculties and 2 schools and a teaching staff of more than 2000 professors - is distinguished by its wide variety of disciplinary fields. A leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity, the University of Milan is the largest university in the region, with approximately 64,000 students; it is also an important resource for the socio-economic context of which it is a part. Milan is, in fact, the capital of Lombardy, one of the most dynamic and international regions in the European Union, a leader in the national economy that stands at the Italian forefront of research and development investments and commitment to technological innovation.

The University of Milan also possesses a remarkable artistic and cultural heritage that includes important historic buildings, inherited and acquired collections, archives, botanical gardens and the old Brera Observatory commissioned by Maria Teresa of Austria. The University’s departments are housed in important historic edifices in the center of Milan and in modern buildings in the area known as Città Studi (the City of Studies). Among the palazzos that house the University’s facilities are the old Ca' Granda (the big house) – a monumental complex from the 15th-century in the heart of the historical city centre - the 18th-century Palazzo Greppi designed by Giuseppe Piermarini – who built the Scala Theatre in Milan – and the 17th-century Sant’Alessandro College commissioned by the Arcimboldi family. The book collection , which is one of the richest in the region, is preserved in 47 libraries, while the APICE Centre collects rare and valuable book stocks and archives. The University also has a Choir and its own Orchestra, which actively contributes to the cultural life of the city and receives international acknowledgments on an increasingly frequent basis.