Engineering course

The content and spirit of the second-year training program are structured around four complementary topics:
– Developing a sense of analysis and consolidating it through scientific teaching and tools dedicated to diagnosis
– Understanding the notion of system through specific teaching: thermodynamics, metabolic biochemistry, animal and plant physiology, ecology, food science, farm management
– Underpinning technical knowledge through in-depth study of the agronomic sciences
– Broadening open-mindedness through questioning of current events and interest in cultural differences

The second year is composed of two semesters, each comprising five teaching units and several course unit components (ECUE).

Semester 3

– Data modeling and data processing (6 ECTS)
– Animal physiology and nutrition (6 ECTS)
– Soil-plant interface (6 ECTS)
– Farm business management (9 ECTS)
– Self-knowledge and communication (6 ECTS)

Semester 4 

– Biomathematics and energetics (6 ECTS)
– Plant physiology and health (6 ECTS)  
– Food science and human nutrition (6 ECTS)
– Management of agricultural production workshops (9 ECTS)
– Alterity and communication (6 ECTS)        

At the end of the second year, students must complete a 12-week internship on a farm or in a company, in an English-speaking country. This is a great opportunity for them to significantly improve their English. They deepen their understanding of production techniques and analyze agricultural realities.

The end-of-year internship abroad is an opportunity to put into practice their openness, communication skills and self-reliance.

NB: PURPAN has an extensive network of farms and partner companies throughout France and abroad. The internship team uses this network to offer students their future destinations.

The third year is composed of two semesters, each comprising five teaching units and several course unit components (ECUE).

Semester 5 
– Management of plant and animal production systems (9 ECTS)
– Genetics, plant and animal selection (6 ECTS)
– The company, its organization and operation (6 ECTS)
– Interculturality (9 ECTS)
– The basic concepts of agronomy and the agri-food sector (6 ECTS)

Semester 6 
– Information management (6 ECTS)
– Agri-food and quality (6 ECTS)
– Agricultural policies and evolution of the agricultural and rural worlds (6 ECTS)
– Technical, economic and environmental diagnostics for farms (6 ECTS)
– Creativity and communication (6 ECTS)

At the end of the third year, students complete a ten-week internship in a company upstream or downstream of production. This is an opportunity to understand its organization and its issues.

The internship at the end of the third year enables students to participate in the work and life of a company in France or abroad, and to learn about organizational problems and study decision-making processes.

The fourth year is split into two distinct semesters: one semester at school and one semester of specialization.

Semester 7
– Personal development and professional experience (3 ECTS)
– Agriculture – Ecology (3 ECTS)
– Management (21 ECTS)
– Life sciences (3 ECTS)
– Engineering sciences (3 ECTS)

Semester 8 
– Personal development and professional experience (24 ECTS)

• Semester at a university abroad
• Semester carrying out an international solidarity mission
• Research semester

Nearly 70% of PURPAN students spend a long period of time abroad at one of the school’s 176 partner universities in nearly 50 different countries.

Students can choose to get involved in humanitarian action within a structure committed to long-term projects in Latin America, Africa or Asia.

Students may decide to go into research. 

A specific and original program involving immersion in a research team at PURPAN and then abroad.

Students can spend an additional semester at an internationally renowned partner university in the European Union, Latin America or North America. To this end, nine agreements have been specially signed with universities such as Wageningen University in the Netherlands (MSc Agroecology), NMBU in Norway (MSc Agroecology), ESALQ and PUCPR in Brazil, PUC in Chile, Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, as well as Purdue University, Kansas State University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the USA.
These courses open the doors to professional careers on the international stage.

Double diplomas available in the fourth year: 

With TBS
Marketing & International Business / Business Analytics, Big Data, AI and the Digital Transformation / Audit and Inspection / Finance and Banking / Consultancy, Strategy, HR and Entrepreneurship / Supply chain, aeronautics / Engineering / Arts, Humanities & Political Science.

With the ENSFEA
– Master’s in Teaching, Education and Training professions.

With the Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès and the ENSFEA
– Master’s in Territory Management and Local Development Course: Rural life in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Master’s in Agroecology – MSc CGE European Management of Agrosystems (supported by AGROECO for France Agro³ schools)

Master’s in Sustainable Food Systems – MSc CGE European Management of Sustainable Food Systems (supported by Toulouse Agri Campus).

This program provides the knowledge needed to correctly analyze the major functions of the forest. Drawing on the agricultural knowledge acquired, forests can be better integrated as an alternative to certain forms of land use, helping to understand the technical, ecological and economic issues involved.
Forests are a comprehensive example of knowledge integration. This DA highlights how, based on the specific case of the forest, we can consider integrated management of an area by bringing together all the technical, environmental, social and economic requirements that can be difficult to reconcile.

The aim of this DA is to train students in the real steps involved in setting up or taking over a business, while supplementing and updating their knowledge of marketing strategy and management. This approach enables them to have a global vision of the different aspects of a project (strategic decisions, marketing approach, production, financing, management, tax and legal impact, etc.)
During this DA, students learn to bring together an entire project in the form of a comprehensive, convincing business plan.

Designed with professionalization in mind, this DA is aimed at students wishing to pursue and develop their skills as future wine industry executives.

DA objectives:

– Develop the future engineer’s ability to diagnose and draw up proposals for action in real-life situations, with cognitive and methodological support from professionals.

– Train executives for companies in the wine and spirits industry, capable of interacting and integrating into all sectors of the business: R&D, production, logistics, purchasing, marketing, sales, relevant proposals, etc.

The aim of this DA is to give students the skills they need to set up an export project. More generally, it is aimed at anyone wishing to one day work for a company, professional organization or institution involved in international business.
An audit is first necessary to analyze the company’s ability to manage a project of this scale, and adapt it to its characteristics and resources. This then leads to strategic thinking and implementing an action plan to reach the target market.
Finally, interculturality remains one of the key success factors of exporting. To make an international business project a success, students need to learn to find their place in different frames of reference and adapt their management to the cultural realities of the destination country.

DA objectives:
– Know the factors and tools for quality control in food manufacturing processes
– Know the tools for optimizing production
– Participate in the development of a HACCP approach in a company
– Know the quality management standards and carry out an audit in a company, leading to the external auditor certificate
– Raise awareness of the project management approach for innovation and product development
– Be able to manage a project involving innovation and product development in the food industry

The aim of this DA is to familiarize students with the organization of mass retailing and alternative distribution methods, and to help them understand the appropriate marketing strategy.
Learners should be able to:
– Recognize the professions involved in food retailing and distribution
– Understand the technical and strategic challenges facing the sector
– Understand the different modes of marketing (supermarket distribution and alternative modes)
– Identify the different elements of marketing strategy.

Every year in France: 
– 12,100,000 tons of co-products generated by the agri-food industry
– 280,000 tons of co-products generated by agricultural activities (livestock and crops)
These co-products have useful properties, including nutritional, agronomic, material, energy and chemical values.

DA objectives:

– Be aware of the co-product volumes generated by agriculture and the food industry in France
– Know the different ways of putting these co-products to profitable use
– Know how to identify the characteristics of interest of a co-product
– Learn more about energy recovery
– Understand the recovery processes
– Be able to carry out environmental impact analyses (EIA)
– Be aware of the economic stakes of co-product recovery

DA objectives: 

– Make future engineers aware of current issues in the world of agriculture.
– Understand professional and government policies at regional, national and European Union level, and grasp their long-term consequences.
– Have a clear vision of the stakeholders in the agricultural world of today, their actions within a sector and a region, and be able to identify their interactions with other local stakeholders in the region.
– Be capable of developing innovative, new or improved projects, and above all of implementing them with those involved in agricultural production.

The aim of PURPAN’s Livestock Farming of Tomorrow DA program is to train engineering students and give them the keys to understanding the main issues facing the livestock industry. They will also be able to propose innovative solutions and be involved in complex systems on several scales (geographical, temporal, etc.), taking into account multifactorial contexts (sustainable development, political governance, production, competitiveness, etc.).

The aim is to professionalize our students, preparing them to become managers in sectors of excellence. They need to acquire a global vision of the value chain in order to develop companies’ economic, environmental and social performance, and build sustainable supply chains and resilient brands.

DA studied in the fourth and fifth years.

The aim of this course is to train agricultural students in the agroecological transition of the food system. This includes the different spatial scales, from the cropping system to the territorial system.
At the end of their course, these agriculture professionals will be experts in environmental issues, and must be able to meet the technical and socio-economic challenges of the agroecological transition of agricultural production systems. Skills and aptitudes will be developed to enable them to carry out a rigorous analysis of how the company operates in its territory.

In the fifth year, students must complete a six-month internship with a company. 
This final internship encourages total, long-term immersion in a company, enabling students to experience the complex day-to-day workings of an economic and social entity.

At the end of the internship, students must submit their final dissertation and defend it before a jury. 

• Gather first-hand experience of the theoretical and practical training acquired over the previous four years. This is the purpose of the internship, followed by the final dissertation.
• Understand the complexity of the company in its human, social, historical, cultural and international environment.
• Prepare to enter professional life and deepen personal reflection to better identify one’s rightful place.
• Acquire a specific skill in one of the fields of activity offered by the areas of interest (DA)