CATIE presents its academic and research opportunities to Honduran students

• Educational and research experience of more than 75 years is an incentive to continue with graduate studies.

A group of 13 students from the Agronomy and Management Engineering program at the University of San Pedro Sula (USAP), Honduras, visited the CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) campus in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

During the visit, they visited the Graduate School and the dean, Dr. Alfredo Zamarripa, gave them a presentation on the educational experience and the relevance of the master's and doctoral programs with professors of 25 nationalities and worldwide recognition. He also told them about other services offered by the Center to students, such as medical and dental office, physiotherapy, among others.

Later, they toured the commercial farm together with Andrés Vega, researcher of the Livestock and Environmental Management Unit, where they were able to appreciate the initiatives in silvopastoral systems and sustainable livestock farming carried out by CATIE.

Finally, they learned about the importance of the International Coffee Collection in the generation of varieties resilient to the challenges of climate change with William Solano, specialist in Plant Genetic Resources of the Agroforestryand Genetic Improvement of Coffee and Cacao Unit (UAMGCC); and about the International Cacao Collection and agroforestry systems, with Adriana Arciniegas, researcher of the Cacao Team of the UAMGCC.

This group of students is finishing this month the career of Administrative Agronomic Engineering and are working on their experimental research with different research entities in San Pedro Sula, so knowing about these CATIE initiatives represents an incentive for the professional and academic career they are starting.

“The purpose of the visit is for them to get to know CATIE, to see the experience in research and projects, and to see some academic options that they can choose from, since they have the vision of continuing their postgraduate studies,” explained Allan Torres, professor at the Faculty of Agronomy of the USAP.

With this type of visits, CATIE consolidates its position as an attractive option for short educational programs and graduate level training in agricultural and environmental sciences for students from all over the Americas and other parts of the world.