TRIESTE, Italy – The 12th Academic Year of the Ernesto Illy First-level Inter-University Master’s Degree in Coffee Science and Economics was inaugurated. The program is targeted at young men and women with undergraduate degrees in economics, engineering and agrarian science, and provides comprehensive training on coffee culture from plant to cup, on the social value of coffee consumption, and on the culture of coffee-producing countries.
This year, twenty students are enrolled in the master’s program. They come from sixteen different countries: Brazil, Colombia, China, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Rwanda, the United States, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The courses, which will take place in a hybrid format – remote learning initially, followed by in-person classes starting in May – will conclude in December 2023, when students will defend their theses.
In addition to Fondazione Ernesto Illy, the master’s degrees supporting partners include the University of Trieste, the University of Udine, the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, the Trieste AREA Science Park, and illycaffè.
Once again, as it has every year since the first Master’s in 2010, Fondazione Friuli will fund a scholarship, a meaningful way to encourage local youths from the provinces of Udine and Pordenone, while Fondazione Ernesto Illy will provide 9 full and 5 partial scholarships.
The master’s program is directed by a team comprising Andrea Tracogna of the University of Trieste, Pietro Romano of the University of Udine, and Furio Suggi Liverani of illycaffè and Fondazione Ernesto Illy.
The Ernesto Illy Master’s Degree in Coffee Science and Economics, the only one of its kind in the world, confirms Trieste’s standing a global hub of coffee culture. The programme’s 59 docents come from the University of Trieste, the University of Udine, illycaffè and the University of Coffee, the International Coffee Organization, Copenhagen University, Cirad, Unipd, Northen Colorado University, Coffeelab India, Demus, Drexel University, RD2 Vision, Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, VUNA Origin Consulting, MIB Trieste School of Management, Quin, and the Kedge Business School.
By the end of the programme, 249 people from 25 different countries will have earned a Master’s Degree in Coffee Science and Economics.
