Modern animal production systems cannot continue to be based merely on a productivist vision. Quality assurance and product safety and variety are of vital importance to satisfy consumer demand and for livestock farms and businesses to remain competitive on the market. Furthermore, today both consumers and public administrations are increasingly concerned about issues of food safety, protection of the environment and improvement of animal welfare. Therefore, it is necessary to vary the traditional bases of production to establish a balance between producing foods of animal origin, ensuring the quality of production, and ensuring the sustainability of production systems. The Master is designed to train professionals in the field of animal nutrition to acquire the necessary expertise to rise to this challenge.

The specialization profile of this degree enables students to undertake technical responsibilities in this domain as well as to perform high-level scientific research. The working activity of this Master’s graduates focuses on the compound feed industry, on livestock farms, planning, supervising and improving animal nutrition during the various production stages, on technical advisory services to assist livestock farmer cooperatives, farms and industries on feeding and nutrition-related issues, on livestock production services of the administration, and on research teams of universities, research centres and businesses.

The Master is organized by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ) of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Zaragoza (UZ) and the Spanish Foundation for the Development of Animal Nutrition (FEDNA), with the collaboration of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). It is an official Master of the Spanish university system, with a clear international character, and it has been on offer since 2007, its contents being updated and revised for each new edition. The Master has a duration of two years (120 ECTS) and is delivered on a full time basis in face-to-face mode. The Master begins every second year.

In the Master 84 lecturers from 8 different countries participate from universities, research centres, public administration services, private enterprises and international institutions. The quality of the lecturers guarantees high-level training and constant updating of topics. The diversity of their origin, both geographical and institutional, contributes to the dynamism of the courses and enables the students to contrast different theories, methods and results.

The Master is open to students from all over the world, although they come mainly from CIHEAM member countries (Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey), from Europe and Latin America.