There is a high demand for managers in agriculture. Together with the Andreas Hermes Akademie, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences has therefore designed the career-integrated master's degree program in Agricultural Management (MBA) in order to train young professionals for these industry sectors.
This offer is designed for graduates of universities of applied sciences and other universities with initial practical experience in their companies. This master's degree program will provide them with cutting-edge management expertise. They will be able to expand and deepen their knowledge in human resource management, negotiations, controlling, strategic management, leadership methods and communication.
Cooperation partners of the degree program
The Andreas Hermes Academy (AHA) is the central training organization for German Agriculture. It specializes in modern training to support entrepreneurial thinking and action.
The three soft skills modules Self-Organization and Personality, Communication/Negotiation and Leadership as well as the modules Agricultural Policy and Law for Managers are led by trainers from the Andreas Hermes Academy.
Internet: www.andreas-hermes-akademie.de/.
The compulsory module Financing in the second semester is led by DKB employees.
Questions about the degree program
The distance learning program is designed in such a way that students work on the course content mainly through time spent independently studying at home. The phases of time spent independently studying are guided by two to three attendance events per module on the Campus Bernburg.
This structure allows students to continue their professional activities during their studies. In addition, the course content can be directly interlinked with the requirements of professional practice. This enables a direct link between the degree course and everyday working life.
Basically yes, because the course is mainly designed as a distance learning course. In a total of 52 attendance days over five semesters, the foundations are laid to enable students to complete their learning workload primarily at home and via the Internet (e-learning). Most of the attendance days take place from Friday to Saturday during the winter, which is a relatively quiet time for Agriculture.
The examinations take place in blocks of one week at the end of the winter semester.
The Master's degree course is designed for five semesters. A total of 14 subject-specific and interdisciplinary modules are completed in four terms. The Master's thesis is written and defended in the fifth semester.
A detailed description of the modules can be found in the module description handbook.
The modules deal with technical, interdisciplinary and personality-related topics:
- Agriculture-related modules (including innovation in animal production, agricultural law)
- General management modules (e.g. financing, marketing)
- Interdisciplinary modules (e.g. employee management, public relations)
- Master's thesis and colloquium
Compulsory modules
- Innovation in animal production
- Project management
- Self-organization and personality
- Strategic management and controlling
- Innovation in plant production
- Financing
- Project
- Communication and negotiation
- Employee management
- Agricultural policy and agricultural law
- Technologies in business management
- Marketing
- Law for managers
- Master's thesis and colloquium
Elective modules
- Digitalization
- Quality assurance and management
- Public Relations
Students are supervised by the Degree Program Coordinator throughout their studies. All non-subject-related questions and coordination tasks are dealt with there.
The instructors of the individual modules are responsible for the content of the degree program. They are available via telephone, e-mail and Moodle in addition to the consultation appointments.
A maximum of 25 students can enroll per academic year.
The professional background of our students is diverse:
- Agriculture: 40%
- Upstream sector: 20%
- Public Service/Administration: 25%
- Consulting/finance: 7%
- Downstream sector: 4%
- Associations: 4%
(Students from the 2019 to 2024 cohorts)
The MBA degree differs from traditional Master of Science degrees in that the main focus is on management and leadership skills. Purely subject-specific Agriculture knowledge plays a subordinate role in the course content. Our degree is therefore not a Master's, postgraduate or specialization in Agriculture.
In contrast to many other further education courses, the accredited Master's degree course concludes with a state-recognized qualification - "Master of Business Administration" (MBA). This degree is also internationally recognized and certifies the holder's professional and general management skills.
