Minimum curriculum requirements for Magister Programmes
in AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY ENGINEERING

1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Magister programmes in Agricultural and Forestry Engineering last 5 years (10 semesters). The total course load is 3400 hours, including 1550 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 technological problems in the area of agricultural production, product quality assurance during storage and processing of agricultural products by their producers or the agricultural industry, and mechanisation of animal and forestry production.

Graduates are qualified to carry out the following types of activities: organising and managing in rural areas various services for agriculture, including agricultural industry plants and population in rural areas; providing consulting services in the area of agriculture and forestry engineering; organising and managing agricultural industry plants, and collaborating on projects for the development of labour-intensive sectors such as forestry, market gardening, fruit growing and some types of animal production.

3. COURSE GROUPS AND COURSE LOAD

GENERAL COURSES	380 hours
BASIC COURSES	330 hours
MAJOR AND PROFESSIONAL SPECIALISATION COURSES	840 hours
Total:	1550 hours

4. PRACTICAL PLACEMENT

All students are required to complete a 4-week diploma-related practical placement after the 4^th year of study. Practical placements may take different forms, depending on the specialist option chosen by the student. Their duration shall be fixed by the relevant Faculty Boards. Elements taken into account in arrangements concerning practical placements may include the branches or areas of study followed by students in their secondary schools and practical placements or training completed by students earlier. Field activities shall be included within the number of hours to be allocated by the Faculty Board and shall be approved by the Faculty Board

NB.: The remaining number of hours should be allocated to courses which complement those included in one or more of the course groups /A, B, C/, depending on decisions taken by faculties which offer magister programmes in the field of Agriculture and Forestry Engineering.

The courses covered by the minimum curriculum requirements may be integrated or divided, depending on decisions taken Faculty Boards.

5. COURSES BY GROUP

GENERAL COURSES
Foreign Language	120
Humanities, including Social Sciences and Economics	120
Computer Science	80
Physical Education	60
BASIC COURSES
Mathematics with Statistics	150
Physics	60
Chemistry	30
Technical Drawing	45
Environmental Protection	45
MAJOR AND PROFESSIONAL SPECIALISATION COURSES
Materials Technology	75
Heat Engineering	60
Mechanical Engineering	60
Mechanics of Materials	60
Theory of Machines and Mechanisms	45
Machine Parts	60
Electrical Engineering and Electronics	90
Automatics	45
Ergonomics	30
Fundamentals of Agricultural, Forest and Food Production	60
Agricultural, Forestry and Food Processing Machines	60
Use of Machines	60
Maintenance of Machines	90
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, INCL. SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ECONOMICS

Depending on the student’s interests, this course provides more extensive knowledge in areas such as history, philosophy, Polish language culture, anthropology, political science, sociology, ethics or culture studies. A course in Economics comprises the following contents: economic law, fundamentals of macroeconomics, basic principles of market, principles of pursuing economic activity.

3. COMPUTER SCIENCE

Basic principles of computer operations and operating systems, in particular skills necessary to use text editors, data bases, spreadsheets, elements of programming and Internet.

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. 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: structure of atom, elementary particles. Periodic table of chemical elements. Electron theory of chemical bond. Water chemistry. Colloids. Electrochemistry. Chemical kinetics. State of matter aggregation. Elements of organic chemistry: hydrocarbons, polymers, alcohols, aldehydes, acids, sugars. Man and his chemical 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. MAJOR AND PROFESSIONAL SPECIALISATION 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

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.

4. MECHANICS OF MATERIALS

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.

5. THEORY OF MACHINES AND MECHANISMS

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.

6. MACHINE PARTS

The course comprises 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.

7. 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.

8. 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. Examples of regulation and control systems in agricultural machines and equipment are analysed during the course.

9. ERGONOMICS

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.

10. 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.

11. AGRICULTURAL, FORESTRY AND FOOD PROCESSING MACHINES

Depending on the specialist option, relevant types of machines will be discussed in detail. Issues concerning the construction, and operation of machines and equipment used in agriculture, forestry and food industry.

12. USE OF MACHINES

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

13. MAINTENANCE OF MACHINES

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

14. FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRIBUSINESS

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