Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products

Secretary: Anna Skepetari

Secretary's Office:
2 G. Seferi St, GR30100 Agrinio

Tel.: +30 26410 74121, 47151, 74108-9
Fax: +30 26410 39579
Website: http://www.agricman.uoi.gr/

General - Aim of the Department

The Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products was founded in 1998 as the Department of Agricultural and Food Products Enterprise Management. Together with the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management it constitutes the School of Natural Resources and Enterprises Management. The School is located in Agrinio. Until the terms regarding its independent operation are secured, the Department will constitute a branch of the University of Ioannina, on which it relies in terms of administration, organisation and academic issues.

The Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products aims at educating scientists capable of dealing with agricultural economy, farm management, the sale and distribution of agricultural products, and the administration/management of processing and food enterprises, in order to cover the needs of agricultural enterprises and cooperatives, develop a new agricultural enterprise model, and move on to the rational exploitation of agricultural resources and the vertical integration of agricultural production.

Structure of the Department - Sections

At present, due to the limited number of its academic staff, the Department is not subdivided into separate Sections.

Laboratories

The Department has the following five (5) laboratories:
1) Organisation and Management of Enterprises in the Agricultural Sphere.
2) Agricultural Economy and Policy.
3) Plant Breeding.
4) Animal Breeding.
5) Computer Science.

Library

The School of Natural Resources and Enterprises Management houses the Libraries of both its constituent Departments in the same space. The Libraries sufficiently cover the education and research needs of both departments and provide access to 8,000 volumes of books, 40 scientific journal subscriptions and a substantial collection of audiovisual material.

Subject Areas

The study programme of the Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products aims at providing in-depth knowledge on the field of enterprise management, in order to deal with the economic and social aspects of the modernisation of the agricultural sector at the national and European level in a scientific manner. It combines knowledge from the economic, business and geotechnical fields, which meets the requirements of the facilities that produce, process and sell agricultural products and food, as well as the policies that are implemented and the mechanisms used for viable and sustainable development. In other words, the Department of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products falls under the category of Management Departments and differs from the latter in that it focuses on enterprises and organisations in the agricultural sphere.

Generally speaking, the subject areas studied at the Department are:

• Economics (Microeconomy-Macroeconomy), Agricultural Economy, European and International Agricultural Policy, Agricultural Development, International Trade of Agricultural Products and Food, Co-operative Economy, etc.
• Management, Marketing, Organisational Behaviour, Electronic Trade, Total Quality, Information Systems, Management, Conflict Management, etc.
• Accounting, Cost Accounting and Price Analysis, Costing, Agricultural Assessment, Financing and Investment Evaluation, Agricultural Enterprise Finance, etc.
• Zootechny, General and Special Agriculture, Arboriculture, Environmental Management, Management of Agricultural Machinery, etc.
• Courses in Basic Sciences such as Mathematics, Chemistry and Statistics.

The management background of our students has an applied orientation which arises from their five-year full-time studies, which are based on an integrated and continuous structure and are completed with a dissertation during the last (10th) semester of their studies.

The graduates of the Department may join the Economic Chamber of Greece.

Members of Academic Staff

Christos Fotopoulos, Professor, Farm Organisation, Management and Marketing.
Vassilios Filios, Associate Professor, Agricultural Accounting.
Athanasios Ladavos, Associate Professor, General Chemistry.
Sotirios Papachristos, Associate Professor, Financial Mathematics.
Pantelis Zoiopoulos, Associate Professor, Zoology - Zootechny.
Konstantinos Adamidis, Assistant Professor, Applied Statistics.
Efthymios Mygdakos, Assistant Professor, Agricultural Economy - Agricultural Policy.
Angelos Patakas, Assistant Professor, Botany - Arboriculture.
Antonios Rezitis, Assistant Professor, Economy (Macroeconomy and Microeconomy).
Dimitra Hela, Lecturer, Ecology - Environmental Management.
Angelos Padouvakis, Lecturer, Enterprise Management.

The Department's teaching duties are supplemented by temporary teaching staff.

Career prospects - New fields of specialisation

In terms of career prospects, graduates of the Department can find employment:

• In the private sector at any enterprise, especially those in the primary sector and at agricultural product processing enterprises.
• At public bodies and services (Ministries and Banks).
• At organisations and cooperatives.
• At development companies, business consultation companies and consultancy bureaus.
• As scientific and research personnel at centres and services in the public and private sectors.
• As teachers in secondary education and advisers in training programmes.

Postgraduate studies

Postgraduate studies in the Department include:

1. The possibility of studying for a Doctoral degree. Fifteen (15) doctoral theses are currently being carried out at the Department.
2. Participation in an Interdepartmental Postgraduate Study Programme (PSP) leading to a Master's degree in "Quality Agricultural Product Certification".

The aim of the PSP entitled "Quality Agricultural Product Certification" is to provide education in the relevant fields to graduates of the Departments of Business Administration of Food and Agricultural Products, Environmental and Natural Resources Management and Medicine, and other related Departments in order to:

• create qualified officials in issues regarding agricultural product certification and quality assurance in relation to consumers nutrition and health,
• ensure the promotion of scientific knowledge, and consequently the satisfaction of the research, educational and developmental needs of the region, and
• contribute to dealing with contemporary challenges in issues regarding production, alternative forms of agricultural production, including integrated and ecological production, as well as to the major issue of genetic modification.

The PSP leads to the following:

a) the award of an Advanced Studies Degree (ASD), with a one-year duration,
b) the award of a Master's Degree, with a two-year duration, and
c) the award of a Doctoral degree.

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