Minimum curriculum requirements for Inżynier Programmes
in AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY ENGINEERING

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Inżynier programmes in Agricultural and Forestry Engineering last 4 years (8 semesters), are provided as a separate type of higher professional education courses, and end with a diploma examination.

The total course load is 2800 hours, including 1385 hours covered by the minimum curriculum requirements.

2. PROFILE OF THE GRADUATE

Graduates should be able to use basic sciences as well as general and specialist engineering knowledge to formulate and solve present and future problems in agricultural engineering. The graduate should possess knowledge in the area of organisation, implementation and management of activities and operations within the broadly defined agricultural infrastructure. This comprises use of machines and equipment as well as organisation and management of firms concerned with agricultural production – from production to processing of raw materials.

3. COURSE GROUPS AND COURSE LOAD

GENERAL COURSES	270 hours
BASIC COURSES	380 hours
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING COURSES	735 hours
Total:	1385 hours

4. PRACTICAL PLACEMENT

• working techniques: minimum duration of 4 weeks;
• use of machines: minimum duration of 6 weeks.

NB.: The remaining number of hours should be allocated to courses which complement those included in one or all course groups, depending on decisions taken by faculties, but Group C courses must account for at least 60% of the total course load.

5. COURSES BY GROUP

GENERAL COURSES
Foreign Language	60
Humanities and Economics	90
Computer Science	60
Physical Education	60
BASIC COURSES
Mathematics with Statistics	150
Physics	60
Chemistry	60
Technical Drawing	50
Environmental Protection
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING COURSES
Materials Technology	75
Heat Engineering	60
Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics of Materials	90
Theory of Machines and Machine Parts	90
Electrical Engineering and Electronics	60
Automatics	45
Ergonomics and Industrial Safety	45
Fundamentals of Agricultural, Forest and Food Production	45
Agricultural, Forestry and Food Processing Machines	60
Use of Machines	60
Repair Technology	60
Fundamentals of Agribusiness	45

6. COURSES BY GROUP AND CURRICULUM CONTENTS

1. GENERAL COURSES

1. FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Proficiency in one foreign language: speaking and writing skills.

2. HUMANITIES AND ECONOMICS

Depending on the student’s interests, this course provides more extensive knowledge in areas such as history, philosophy, Polish language culture, political science, sociology, ethics, culture studies, fundamentals of intellectual and industrial property protection, etc.

A course in Economics comprises the following contents: basic economic rules, fundamentals of macroeconomics, market operation, principles of pursuing economic activity.

3. COMPUTER SCIENCE

Basic concepts of computer science. Operating systems. Set operations. Text editors. Development and use of data bases.

2. BASIC COURSES

1. MATHEMATICS WITH STATISTICS

Matrix calculus. Complex numbers. Vector calculus. Second-degree curves. Plane and straight line in space. Geometrical transformations. Quadric surfaces. Single- and multi-variable differential and integral calculus. Numerical and functional series. Differential equations. Laplace transformation. Elements of probability calculus and mathematical statistics.

2. PHYSICS

Mechanics of material point and rigid body. Applicability limits of classical mechanics. Mechanical vibrations and waves. Acoustics. Hydrodynamics. Particle physics. Fundamentals of thermodynamics. Photometry. Physical optics. Fundamentals of atomic physics. Quantum properties of radiation. Fundamentals of nuclear physics and solid-state physics.

3. CHEMISTRY

Structure of matter, periodic table of chemical elements. Theories of chemical bond. Elements of organic chemistry: hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes, acids, sugars, polymers. Thermodynamics and chemical kinetics. Electrochemistry. States of matter aggregation. Colloids. Water chemistry. Man and his environment: air and water pollution.

4. TECHNICAL DRAWING

Issues concerning orthogonal projection, methods of section making and types of sections, dimensioning and surface roughness marking. Drawing simplifications used for separable and inseparable joints; principles of assembly drawings.

5. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The course is devoted to fundamentals of ecology: functioning of populations, biocenosis and eco-systems. These topics serve as the basis for presentation of sources and damaging effects of pollution, and methods used to prevent and reduce pollution of air, water and land ecosystems with special regard to environmental degradation problems caused by agriculture. The course also covers nature preservation issues and an outline of legislation concerning environmental protection.

3. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING COURSES

1. MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY

Issues concerning the structure and properties of metals, metal alloys and plastics, technological processes transforming raw materials into final constructional elements of specific shape, dimensions, technological properties and use as well as corrosion of metals and alloys, and anticorrosion protection.

2. HEAT ENGINEERING

This course provides the basis for a number of subjects, including engines, process engineering, energy management, refrigeration and dehydration, where more emphasis is placed on technical aspects. The course comprises the following topics: equations and transformations of gases, real agents and air; thermal cycles of refrigerators, heat pumps and engines, principles of heat flow, combustion and heat exchangers. The aim of the course is to provide students with basic theoretical knowledge and skills required for energy calculations and measurements.

3. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS OF MATERIALS

Equilibrium of force systems, friction. Moments of inertia of planar surfaces. Motion of a point on a plane, rotary and plane motion of a body, resultant motion of a point. Analysis of uniaxial stress and plane stress, tension, compression, thin-walled tanks, torsion, bending, elastic strain energy, combined stress, buckling, materials fatigue, experimental analysis of stress. Fundamentals of thermodynamics.

4. THEORY OF MACHINES AND MACHINE PARTS

The course comprises the following issues: structure of mechanisms, kinematics, dynamic force analysis, dynamics in the classical approach, computer simulation of closed and open kinematic chain motion with the matrix kinematic method and Lagrange’s second-type equation of motion applied in such simulations. Machine parts comprise issues related to design of machine elements and subassemblies, including the specificity of agricultural machines. Issues discussed: constructional materials and their strength; screw, riveted and welded joints; tolerance limits and fit; frictional and shape joints; elastic elements, axles and shafts, clutches; bearings; toothed, belt, planetary and wave gears.

5. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND ELECTRONICS

The course comprises the following issues: basic theoretical principles of electrical engineering; electric shock and electric shock protection, safe use of electrical equipment; electric drive; distribution and control devices; basic operational principles of semiconductor devices; applications of electronics to non-electric value measurements; use of computers for simulation measurements and calculations; fundamentals of power engineering electronics; lighting installations. Electrical and electronic equipment in agricultural engineering.

6. AUTOMATICS

The course comprises the following curriculum contents: analysis and synthesis of linear systems of automatic regulation; selected issues concerning analysis of non-linear systems; synthesis of combination switching systems; and selected issues concerning synthesis of sequence switching systems. Analysis of examples of regulation and control systems in agricultural machines and equipment.

7. ERGONOMICS AND INDUSTRIAL SAFETY

The course comprises issues concerning workload estimation, assessment of material working conditions, ergonomic design of working stations, and an outline of labour law with special regard to working conditions in agriculture and forestry.

8. FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURAL, FOREST AND FOOD PRODUCTION

Depending on the specialist option, emphasis will placed on a relevant branch of production. Selected agro-technical issues, characteristics of individual product groups. Physical and technological properties of raw materials and products.

9. AGRICULTURAL, FORESTRY AND FOOD PROCESSING MACHINES

Structure and operation of machines ad equipment used in agriculture, forestry and food industry.

10. USE OF MACHINES

Organisational, technical and economic principles of using machines and equipment in agriculture, forestry and food industry.

11. REPAIR TECHNOLOGY

Principles of maintaining technical availability of the machine stock in agriculture, forestry, agricultural and food industry.

12. FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRIBUSINESS

Organisation of production, distribution, marketing, development of strategies in agricultural production.