AERES, The Netherlands - Inno4Grass

Aeres University of Applied Sciences, is situated in Dronten, in the centre of the Netherlands. The university has a staff of 150 lecturers teaching 2.000 students per year. The university has the largest number of BSc livestock students in the Netherlands. Aeres University of Applied Sciences has an agricultural applied research department and a university farm for research and education. The department of applied research is directly connected with the curriculum of the university. This means that many projects are executed with students and with lecturers from the university. The department has a staff of 25 scientists. The university farm has livestock and crop farming; different crops and about 250 milking cows, swine, poultry and sheep. Grassland management is a key theme on the dairy farm. Some of the experiments are executed on this farm. Others are done in cooperation with farmers and/or agribusiness.

Practice is one of the main concepts in all Aeres University of Applied Sciences courses. The university uses the educational model of competency based education. We teach students to develop professionality in close cooperation with private enterprises, the public sector and individual farmers and entrepreneurs. In this cooperation, professionals give guest lectures, are involved in the assessment of students and provide input for the (re-)design of our modules. Students cooperate in different (inter)national research projects and work together with scientists form the department of Applied Research. The university also provides opportunities for students to run an enterprise in their field of education. At the university farm students can run their own student enterprises where they can practice their farm management skills.