Starting in September 2020, a new degree program will be launched at the Neustadt wine campus: The dual master's degree program in Viticulture and Oenology (Franco-Allemand Viticulture et Oenologie, FAVO for short). The course is a joint project of the partner universities HWG Ludwigshafen and the Université de Haute-Alsace in Colmar. Minister President Malu Dreyer welcomed the bi-national project at the Neustadt wine campus, saying: "The Corona crisis has posed great challenges to cross-border cooperation. But despite all the necessary restrictions in personal contact, we naturally continued to work on the perspectives with our partners in Alsace. So I am pleased about this pleasant news. Because where, if not here, is the right place to launch a Franco-German degree program."
The bi-national master's degree program will create a new form of cross-border promotion and strengthening of the Upper Rhine region. For the first time, the labor market of the wine industry, which is formative for the Upper Rhine region and is an important economic and cultural factor in all sub-regions of the Upper Rhine, will be simultaneously opened across borders and promoted in a sustainable manner. "This program is unique in the region and an excellent offer for students and wine-growing businesses, especially through cross-border cooperation," emphasizes Prof. Dr. Maren Scharfenberger-Schmeer, director of the new master's program. In the new master's program, partners from the field of higher education in Germany and France as well as cooperating companies in the wine industry in Germany, France and Switzerland are working closely together.
The new program is aimed at bachelor's graduates from the fields of viticulture and oenology, agricultural sciences, and natural and engineering sciences. Language courses are offered at the beginning of the program to prepare students for studying abroad. Thus, the entry is also possible for prospective students with little knowledge of French.
One course of study, two degrees
Thanks to the jointly coordinated curriculum of the partner universities HWG Ludwigshafen and the Université de Haute-Alsace, graduates obtain a degree from both universities. Students thus have the opportunity to earn two master's degrees (double degree master) in just four semesters. The studies in Colmar and Neustadt are free of charge - no tuition fees are charged. The study semester of the German students in Colmar is also supported by an Erasmus scholarship.
In the dual master's program in Viticulture and Oenology, students are enrolled simultaneously at the beginning of their studies at the two responsible universities, the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences (HWG) and the Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA). Depending on the initial fluency in German and French, the initial enrollment location will be in Neustadt or Colmar. The requirement here is that students must be proficient in one of the two languages at level B2 and the other language at least at level B1 of the European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The course of study is divided into attendance phases, which are geared to the seasonal characteristics of viticulture (no attendance events in the labor-intensive September / October harvest period) and a total of three phases, which are completed in practice.
Practical study
The first practical phase will take place in a German- or French-speaking winegrowing enterprise in Germany, France or Switzerland, while the second and third phases are obligatory in an enterprise and a region of the language to be learned. The Swiss wineries play a very important role. Since no explicit location for classroom events in Switzerland is planned for the course, but the socio-ecological diversity and typicality of wines in the Upper Rhine region is to be taught holistically, i.e. including Switzerland, a stay in companies in Switzerland is strongly recommended. For this purpose, companies in Switzerland have already been recruited in advance, and the acquisition of new partner companies will initially focus increasingly on Switzerland.
The students can choose from a pool of cooperating companies in Germany, France or Switzerland, which have contractually committed themselves to supervise students of the dual master's program.
The binational Master's program in Viticulture & Oenology is an Interreg project funded by the European Union, co-financed by EFRE.
More information can also be found on the homepage of the Weincampus Neustadt at:
https://www.weincampus-neustadt.de/dualer-master-weinbau-und-oenologie
