Management of technologies, innovation and sustainability

The aim of the course is to help the students to acquire knowledge about various initiatives to improve quality and sustainabilty and to better understand the area of Quality and Sustainability Management. The course also aims to help the students to develop practical skills as a means to facilitate improvement initiatives. The course provides an overview of the quality management field and practical training. The course includes lectures and group work. Topics covered in the course: Quality history, Certification, ISO 9000, ISO 22000 and quality standard in the agri-food field, Sustainable development, Corporate Sustainability, TQM, sustainability, circular economy, ISO 14000, LCA, EMAS, Eco Design, Quality and Sustinability in the Agri-Food Sector

Knowlwdge about: - quality principles - standards and certification - sustainable development and sustainability - food quality and safety

Educational material provided by the professor.

Not mandatory

Exam sessions as reported by the academic calendar. The exam consists in a written work (1h 30min). Two open questions will be provided (max 10 points each) and 10 closed questions (1 point each). The final vote will be expressed as the sum of the collected points. Clarity and organization will be evaluated during the presentation as well as the language proficiency and the competence about the course issues. Criteria for learning evaluation consists in a final score expressed in thirtieths, according to the following grid: 30-30 with honors (excellent): excellent knowledge of topics, excellent use of language, excellent analysis skills. The student is able to apply his knowledge to solve the posed problems; 27-29 (very good): good knowledge of the topics, good use of language. The student is able to apply his knowledge to solve the posed problems; 24-26 (good): basic knowledge of the main topics, correct use of language. The student has limited skill to independently apply the knowledge to solve the problems; 20-23 (satisfactory): Knowledge but not full mastery of the main topics of the course; satisfactory use of language. The student has little skill to independently apply the knowledge acquired; 18-19 (sufficient): Very basic knowledge of the main topics of the course and poor technical language. The student has extremely limited skill to independently implement the knowledge acquired; insufficient: The student does not have an acceptable knowledge of the contents of the topics covered in the course. During the course it will be possible to discuss a specific topic (one about quality and one about sustainability), by a group presentation (1 hour each). If the evaluation will be suitable for both, the final written exam will be skipped.

The teaching activity is carried out by lectures, using PPT presentations. During the lessons an interactive technique is adopted, stimulating the students to answer questions that recall notions already studied in previous courses. Students are encouraged to carry out self-assessment tests (case-report and/or scientific and law literature evaluation) made available by the teacher to verify their degree of learning.