Displaying items by tag: career

Q. What is the mission of the Department of  Agriculture and Food Industry at the IFFT?

A. The Agriculture and Food Industry Program is a University technological and professional program serving the Agro-food supply chain. The program took off in 2012 at the Akkar campus and has recently received its first students at the Koura main campus.

The objective of the program is to graduate young motivated students in touch with their environment and with an excellent knowledge of the problems the agriculture and food industry sector is facing, a clear idea about how to face these problems, and the proper methodology and competences to solve them.

 After three years completing a study program that includes 100 credits, two internships and a graduation project, students receive the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Agriculture and Food Industry Engineering. This, which equips them with the knowledge and competence to start a successful career, allows them to enter the professional sector.

 Q. What are the strengths of this program?

A. As previously noted, the importance of this program is that it graduates professionals with a clear knowledge of the local agricultural and food sector; this can only be achieved through specialist training and field work.

Students start their field work in animal production (ruminants and small ruminants) during their first semester, at the Department’s Experimental and Training Center on the Akkar campus. Plant production training takes place in the Center’s green houses, nursery and open air field, with trials in collaboration with private sector companies (e.g., Robinson Agri, Antagro). As for the food industry training, it is performed in the Department’s food industry laboratories for dairy products and food preservation. Two periods of training for a total of three months are conducted with important public and private sector institutions such as the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI), Hawa Chicken, Exotica, Ksara, Al Wadi Al Akhdar, to name just a few. Students can also spend their internship at one of our foreign-partner universities, such as one in France.

These course components are supplemented by a series of visits to major agriculture and food companies across the Lebanon to acquire necessary information about the sector’s needs.

Q. What are the potential employment opportunities?

A. Once they receive the degree of Bachelor of Technology, graduates can be hired for a position in management, advising, animation or training in the professional sector of agriculture and food industry. They can be given positions of responsibility in HACCP programs, ISO certification, quality management, product innovation and standardization, as well as production management and coordination in agricultural and food industry companies. They can also set up and manage their own small- or medium-size companies of Agribusiness.

Q. What are the different tracks offered by this  program?

A. The program offers three major tracks:

Animal Breeding and Production Systems

Graduates should be capable of managing and solving all aspects relevant to animal production: management, zootechnics, nutrition, reproduction programs, animal health, products quality, sustainable production in relation to its environment.

Sustainable Management of Plant Production

Graduates should be able to manage all aspects of plant production and protection: agrosystem management, agricultural surface management, organic production, sustainable production, among others.

Food Industry Science and Technology

Graduates should be capable of managing an agri-food supply chain from the delivery of raw material to the food-processing plant up to the delivery of the finished product to consumers, while at every stage guaranteeing hygienic, nutritional and organoleptic quality. 

Q. What are the admission criteria for entry into this program?

A. The first prerequisite for applying to the Agriculture and Food Industry Program is a liking for adventure, for a career of adventure is what this path will lead to. Students with a Lebanese Baccalaureate (SG, SV or SE) or equivalent can apply. Students having obtained their BT diploma can also apply but will need to take remedial courses (Math, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, English and French). Applicants are accepted according to their SAT scores with or without remedial courses. 

Q. What are the possibilities of academic  insertion?

A. For those who wish it and have a high Baccalaureate average and robust language skills, Master’s programs in Agriculture and Food Industry can be pursued after following bridging courses either in Lebanon or abroad.

Want more information?

For more detailed information and up-to-date news about the Program, please contact:

Rodrigue El Balaa (PhD. Agr. Eng.)

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Web: www.balamand.edu.lb - Facebook group: IFFT – AFID