Animal Welfare: Master Gesaben of the University of Sassari inaugurated in the Aula Magna

Press release

SASSARI.The first edition of the one-year Master's Degree in Management, Sustainability of Farming and Animal Welfare - GESABEN is starting. The Master's Degree is the first of the post-graduate academic offer at national level on the topics related to the pillars of the new CAP 2023/2027 (Common Agricultural Policy) and the Classyfarm system of the Ministry of Health, as well as to business management, for the protection of animal welfare and the reduction of antimicrobial resistance, in full coherence with Ecoschema 1.

The master's degree is the first of the post-graduate academic offer at national level on the issues related to the pillars of the new CAP 2023/2027 (Common Agricultural Policy) and the Classyfarm system of the Ministry of Health, as well as to business management, for the protection of animal welfare and the reduction of antimicrobial resistance, in full coherence with Ecoschema 1.

The educational path will train professionals in the livestock sector operating in the various animal production chains. The master's degree is the result of a collaboration between the University of Sassari and the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sardinia "G. Pegreffi" and is part of the educational offer of the Department of Agriculture for the academic year 2023/2024. The teaching staff is composed of professors from the Department of Agriculture, trainers from the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Sardinia and the Ministry of Health, and also includes renowned experts from the University of Turin, the Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, and from the ASL of Northern Sardinia itself, as well as ministerial trainers specialized in animal welfare.

The training activities include topics that cover production ethics and sustainability, company management and new agricultural policies, animal welfare and rights and health management of livestock, including feed quality, vector control, epidemiology and the Classyfarm method for the various animal supply chains.

The teaching activities will be delivered in blended mode, both in person at the headquarters of the University's interdepartmental center Innovative Agriculture (Olmedo-Alghero, locality Surigheddu) and remotely on the UnitelSardegna platform, both in synchronous mode (live) and asynchronous (delayed with recording of the lessons). The teaching activities also include internships, seminars, practical-application activities and internship, for the final exam.

The first qualifications will be awarded starting from July 2025.

The inauguration of the Master, in the Aula Magna of the University, was attended by the Rector Gavino Mariotti, the Vice-Rectors for Teaching and Research, Pietro Pulina and Giuseppe Pulina, the Director of the Department of Agriculture Ignazio Floris, the Director of the Master Maria Grazia Cappai, the Educational Coordinator Filippo Gambella and, remotely, the General Director of Animal Health - Ministry of Health, Giovanni Filippini.