Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in global transition and sustainability management | 5 crédits | |||
| Extra courses intended for exchange students (Erasmus, ...) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course provides a general introduction to the agri-food sector and the complexity of sustainable transition pathways in food systems, addressed to students without prior academic background in agriculture. It is organised in four modules, moving from a shared understanding of food systems and their challenges (Module 1) to transition dynamics and political economy (Module 2), agroecological and alternative models (Module 3), and the practical challenges of transition (Module 4). Two complementary lenses structure the course throughout: the food value chains approach and the territorial approach.
The ten sessions cover: (S1) What is a food system - boundaries, actors, and systemic frameworks (multi-level perspective, social-ecological systems); (S2) The origins, drivers and consequences of agricultural modernization; (S3) Collective organisations in agri-food - cooperatives and their governance; (S4) Transition and transformation - analytical frameworks and a role-play exercise; (S5) Power, inclusion and the political economy of food, including food sovereignty, security, democracy and autarky; (S6) Governance, public policies and evaluation metrics (EU CAP, land access, territorial food-policy instruments); (S7) Agroecology principles and farming systems; (S8) Values-based value chains, alternative food networks and territorial food systems; (S9) Living through the practical constraints of transition, including lock-ins and resilience, grounded in a possible field visit; (S10) Designing sustainable food futures - a collective simulation exercise applied to the Walloon agri-food system.
The Walloon Region is used as a cross-session case throughout the course, through a group assignment progressively built by students and debriefed collectively in the final session.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Describe the structure, boundaries and diversity of actors of a food system, and apply systemic frameworks (multi-level perspective, social-ecological systems) to analyse it.
- Explain the historical trajectory of agricultural modernization and critically assess its environmental, social and economic consequences.
- Compare the food value chains approach and the territorial approach as two complementary lenses for understanding and acting on food systems.
- Analyse the rationales, governance challenges and degeneration risks of collective organisations (cooperatives, producer organisations) in agri-food.
- Distinguish between transition and transformation as concepts, and critically evaluate transition approaches, including its limits and unintended effects.
- Compare and critically discuss the concepts of food sovereignty, food security, food democracy and food autarky.
- Position themselves with regard to the public policy frameworks and instruments shaping food systems (e.g. the Common Agricultural Policy, land access policies, and territorial food policy initiatives), and be able to formulate an informed and well-argued opinion on their coherence and evaluation
- Describe the principles of agroecology and situate alternative farming and value-chain models (values-based chains, alternative food networks, territorial food systems) within broader food-system dynamics.
- Identify lock-ins and resilience factors that constrain or enable food-system transition, informed by direct exposure to a concrete territorial case.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
No specific prior knowledge of agriculture or the agri-food sector is required. The course is designed as a general introduction for students from diverse academic backgrounds; a general interest in sustainability and transition issues is expected, consistent with the Master's programme.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
* Ex-cathedra lectures introducing key concepts and frameworks, co-delivered by the two lecturers, often alternating between complementary perspectives (e.g. historical/environmental and trade/value-chain angles in S2).
* Interactive sessions and open discussions building on students' prior knowledge and direct interaction (e.g. S3).
* An in-class sub-group mapping exercise with collective debriefing (S1).
* Case-study analyses, some based on the lecturers' own field experience and direct testimony (e.g. the CwAD case in S6).
* Guest testimonies, including at least one online intervention (e.g. on the OASIS agroecological framework, S7; a French expert on food policy councils, S8).
* Two scenario-based serious games / role-play exercises: one on transition and intervention/facilitation dynamics (S4), and one on cross-cutting food-system vulnerability and cascading effects, closing the course (S10).
* A group evaluation exercise in which students define assessment criteria for a real public policy instrument (S6).
* A possible field visit and meeting with stakeholders (Pôle Circuit Court), still to be confirmed, opening session S9.
* A term-long, collective group assignment applying course concepts to the Walloon agri-food system, debriefed in the final session (S10).
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Primarily face-to-face teaching, combining lectures, interactive exercises, and in-class case discussions, complemented by at least one distance-learning component (an online guest testimony) and a possible on-site field visit. Slides only will not be informative of the actual content of the course, therefore presence and active interaction are strongly recommended.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- LOL@
Further information:
Slides prepared for each session, combining theoretical input with case-based illustrations. An extensive, non-exhaustive reading list of academic references (peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and grey literature) is provided; selected readings will be highlighted per session.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Further information:
Course attendance is mandatory, since non-attendance will result in failure to actually integrate the courses' contents and deliver an in-depth perspective at evaluation. Active participation in the collective simulation game closing the course (S10) will count for approximately one quarter of the total grade, attributed collectively to each group. The remainder of the grade will be based on an oral exam with written preparation followed by a half-an hour discussion with the teachers.
Work placement(s)
Not applicable. No formal work placement is included in this course; a possible field visit (S9) may be organised as part of regular course activities, but does not constitute a work placement.
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
This is the first year this course is offered, within the newly created Master in Global Transition and Sustainability Management. The course is jointly designed and co-taught by two lecturers, Véronique De Herde and Christian Jonet, bringing complementary perspectives (respectively centred on food value chains and territorial food systems) that structure the course throughout
Contacts
Véronique De Herde - Veronique.DeHerde@uliege.be
Christian Jonet - christian@catl.be (Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise).
Association of one or more MOOCs
There is no MOOC associated with this course.
Further information:
Not applicable - this course is not associated with any MOOC.