ATTENTION: Registration for the Master’s program selection process, for enrollment in the first semester of 2026, will be open from October 6th to November 5th, 2025.
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Our Master’s Program in Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development features faculty members from various Centers of the State University of Northern Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro – UENF at Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ and from the Fluminense Federal Institute – IFF, at its Cambuci campus. Therefore, this stricto sensu graduate course is the result of a partnership between UENF and IFF, as well as with different civil society entities.
The Professional Master’s Program in Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development was approved by the UENF University Council on August 13, 2021, and by CAPES in December 2024, receiving its final homologation in June 2025.
This master’s program is completely free of charge and, being a professional master’s degree, it allows graduate professionals to enhance their knowledge while balancing it with their weekly workload. The course’s focus is to work on ecological foundations through Agroecology, aiming to act more sustainably in rural areas. Thus, agroecology, which is an innovative and transdisciplinary science, provides the scientific foundations for more in-depth analyses of agroecosystems in order to better balance the scales between economic gains, social responsibility, and environmental care. So to speak, the course engages in a dialogue with organized communities and associations from both the countryside and the city, enabling an exchange of knowledge and, why not say, flavors.
Agroecologists study issues related to the four properties of agroecosystems: productivity, stability, sustainability, and equitability. Unlike disciplines that refer to only one or some of these properties, agroecologists see all four properties as interconnected and integral to the success of agroecosystems.
Institutional Integration:
The MPADRS program is linked to the Center for Agricultural Sciences and Technologies at UENF and the Pro-Rectory for Research and Graduate Studies. It maintains a collaborative agreement with the Fluminense Federal Institute at its Cambuci campus; Internally, it is supported by professors/researchers from other UENF Knowledge Centers (CBB and CCH) in the areas of ecology and human sciences (sociology, philosophy, social policies). The program was approved in December 2023 by CAPES for Area 42 – Agricultural Sciences I, with a Concentration Area in Agroecology and the sub-area of “Rural Extension, Development and Sustainability.”
Social Integration: The MPADRS program is born with a strong social focus, as it is an explicit demand from the 38 civil society entities that are part of the Northern Fluminense Territorial Collegiate. Furthermore, it has close collaboration with representative entities of the farmers’ movement, such as the Pastoral Land Commission, FETAG, CONTAG, the Small Farmers’ Movement, Cooperatives, Associations, and Rural Workers’ Unions, as well as the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement.
Training (Skills and Competencies)
The MPADRS program proposes the training and qualification of Rural Technical Assistance and Extension (ATER) professionals through a multidisciplinary approach. The UENF Graduate Studies Statute and Regulations will be respected. The course offers students a set of mandatory subjects which, within the internal scope of the program, will be treated as interconnected knowledge modules. The professional training process recognizes and adheres to the need for alternation between time spent at the MPADRS facilities at UENF and the professional’s work time. It is, therefore, characterized as an alternation regime, allowing the professional/student to be absent for two consecutive weeks without the need for official communication to the program or the Pro-Rectory for Research and Graduate Studies, as explicitly stated in the program regulations presented in a document attached to this proposal. The modules consist of the research lines and the subjects themselves. It is a concept specific to Agroecology, based on the inseparability of teaching-research-extension typical of its multidimensional characteristic (social movement – technological practice – scientific discipline).
The MPADRS program offers five modules for the basic training of the postgraduate student: Fundamentals in Agroecology (Module 1); Ecological Soil Management (Module 2); Health of Agroecological Systems (Module 3); Society and Development (Module 4); and Food and Food Security (Module 5). Each module aims to develop specific skills and competencies in the student-professional, providing a body of knowledge that contributes to the improvement of their action as a researcher-extensionist focused on designing agroecological systems as a tool for promoting sustainable rural development. The content of each module (research lines) is detailed in the Disciplines section (curricular cores). The student’s Individual Training Path is schematically presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the individual training path for the Professional Master’s Program in Agroecologia e Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável. Classes will be held on Thursdays and Fridays with a two-week break dedicated to work time.
The postgraduate student’s training process is based on the definition of their work theme, i.e., the research subject. To accommodate multidimensionality in the training process, the strategic concept of research theme/project relevance was conceived. For the MPADRS, a relevant research theme is one demanded by the social actors (public/private) that are part of the Northern Fluminense Territorial Collegiate or of the territory where the student is located. The relevant theme is, therefore, the one proposed by farmers and/or their representatives. This objective demand will be taken as the research subject by the postgraduate student and will accompany them throughout their entire individual training path. The representation of the MPADRS training proposal is shown in Figure 2. Note that the training proposal starts from the end, meaning it is extension-oriented, based on the determination of a relevant problem indicated by social movements. The scientific training was formulated so that the training modules can provide the necessary tools for the postgraduate student’s intervention in the system. This qualified intervention is called the final course project, which ultimately aims to concretely promote the development of the target communities.
Figure 2. Representation of the scientific-pedagogical project guiding the training in the Professional Master’s Program in Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development.