The course in brief
The Second-cycle Degree Course (LM) in Economics and Management of Sustainable Food Systems (Food Quality-FQ), promoted by the Department of Economics and Management in collaboration with the Department of Food and Drug of the University of Parma, is a multidisciplinary project that was set up as a collaborative platform to promote dialogue between economic-managerial culture and the disciplines related to the social sciences of gastronomy.
The Second-cycle Degree Course in Economics and Management of Sustainable Food Systems aims to train professionals with interdisciplinary skills that combine theoretical and empirical knowledge of a cultural, as well as economic-managerial nature of the agri-food system, with technological and gastronomic skills related to the enhancement of food in a strict logic of environmental sustainability. This is a continuation of the cultural pathway already started in the First-cycle degree L-18 (Food System: Sustainability, Management and Technology) and L-26 (Gastronomic Sciences) at the University of Parma.
The training pathway focuses on subjects from different subject areas that include:
- the disciplines of an economic-business, sociological and commodity nature, in order to understand and be able to apply economic theories and forms of management of agri-food enterprises in the procurement, production, processing, marketing and promotion phases of food production and environmental systems;
- the disciplines of a statistical nature, in order to understand both the data required for enterprise management and for quality management and food safety
- the disciplines of a legal nature, to understand national, European and international regulations in the field of food production and marketing as well as consumer protection;
- the disciplines of a historical nature, to understand the cultural implications related to food production, marketing and consumption;
- the disciplines of a technological nature, to guarantee food safety, understand and guarantee food quality, also with respect to the nutritional needs of consumers.
The course responds to the need to train a modern professional figure, which combines the skills of the bio-economist with those of the bio-gastronome (in the meaning of professional figure proposed by Ministerial Decree no. 928 of 28 November 2017), able to meet the strong demands for interdisciplinary skills placed on those who work in the context of the management of food companies, the gastronomy sectors and the socio-economic development of territories with a strong food vocation, in line with the European strategy for sustainable development outlined by the European Commission in the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament "A sustainable Bioeconomy for Europe: strengthening the connection between economy, society and the environment, Updated Bioeconomy Strategy".