IICA launches five scholarships for Latin American students for the Digital Agri master’s degree course offered by the University of Córdoba in Spain

San José, May 24, 2024. The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is to award five tuition scholarships to young people from Latin American countries under 30 years of age for the master’s degree course in the digital transformation of the agrifood and forestry sector, known as Digital Agri, offered by the University of Córdoba (UCO) in Spain.
 
This is the fourth consecutive year in which IICA has demonstrated the strength of its commitment to the vital process of innovation and digitalization in the agrifood field, enabling young people to receive training in critical and specialized thinking that will make it possible to meet the challenges of a competitive, efficient and sustainable agrifood system.

For Rosa Gallardo, Director of the University of Cordoba’s School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering (ETSIAM), the school that offers this master’s degree program, the collaboration with the Institute is essential. “This year’s scholarships further consolidate our partnership with IICA, as we work together with countries whose agriculture sector is of key strategic importance for their future,” she said.
 
The public and private sectors both need professionals with this expert knowledge, and the high demand for this program from young people demonstrates its success: since its inception in 2021, applications have tripled and now stand at 47, with eight tuition scholarships awarded and more than 15 places reserved exclusively for students from Latin America. 

“The master’s degree course contributed to my personal growth and improved my career prospects with better job opportunities, allowing me to explore my own strengths and weaknesses and develop the digital skills required to tackle new challenges in agrifood production,” commented Florencia Aranda, from Argentina, who received a scholarship from IICA in the 2023-2024 call and is working from her country with the Spanish company Digital Animal, where she did her internship thanks to its partnership with the UCO.
 
There are already eight professionals like Florencia from countries such as Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Argentina and Panama who have had the opportunity to live a unique experience and obtain a master’s degree whose excellence is recognized across the sector, not only in Spain but in Europe as a whole.
 
To facilitate access to the relevant information, a new website has been implemented this year (www.agriculturadigital.iica.int) that provides all the necessary details about the scholarships: dates, requirements, description, testimonials from Latin American students who have taken the course, press releases and links of interest, etc.

Scholarship applicants must first apply for admission to the master’s degree course on the website of the Distrito Único Andaluz (DUA) between June 17 and 26, 2024.

Training of excellence
 
The Digital Agri master’s degree course is taught in Spanish and lasts seven months. It combines a complete program of blended (face-to-face and online) learning, internships with prestigious companies in the sector, and work experience with companies and at the Rabanales Campus, a 175-hectare farm in Córdoba, Spain.
 
The course consists of 60 credits divided into 10 subjects that provide specialized training in innovation, digitalization and technological surveillance, the Internet of Things, data analysis and satellite images, food sensor technology, soil, water and plants, big data and blockchain, and other areas.

The seventh edition of this postgraduate course begins on November 7, 2024 and ends on June 6, 2025.

Commitment to the digitalization of agriculture in the Americas
 
For IICA, it is very important that scholarship recipients be truly committed to the development and improvement of digitalization in agriculture in the Americas. Therefore, in addition to completing all the in-person parts of the program, they are required to submit a final paper on a real need identified by their countries.
 
Emmanuel Picado, IICA’s Manager of Information and Digital Communication Technologies, who has overseen this program from Costa Rica where IICA’s Headquarters are located, had the following to say: “The continuation of this partnership signifies the promotion of innovation, technology and the development of digital skills among the new generations of professionals in the Americas.”
 

More information:
www.agriculturadigital.iica.int
https://digitalagri.es/
 
Emmanuel Picado
emmanuel.picado@iica.int
Soraya Villarroya
soraya.villarroya@iica.int