International Agribusiness Non-thesis

Program Description

Careers in agribusiness, industry and commercial sector
Gain international experience
One semester spent at University of Ghent, Belgium - courses taught in English
Summer internship may be domestic or abroad
12-16 months to complete

Degree Requirements

Admission to the program
Completion of one semester at University of Arkansas, and one at University of Ghent in Belgium
Summer internship in agribusiness or special problem
Successfully completing the courses (31 hours) included on an approved plan of study with a GPA of 2.85 or higher
Passing the written comprehensive examination

Core Requirements

International Track Courses Taken at University of Arkansas: 16 semester credit hours

3 hrs AGEC 5403 Quantitative Methods for Agribusiness
3 hrs AGEC 4243/5413 Agribusiness Strategy
3 hrs (choose one marketing course from)
AGEC 4303 Advanced Agricultural Marketing Management
AGEC 5303 Agricultural Marketing Theory
3 hrs (choose one finance/management course from)
AGEC 4143/5043 Agricultural Finance
AGEC 4313/5213 Agricultural Business Management

AGEC 4403/5053 Advanced Farm Business Management

AGEC 5143 Financial Management in Agriculture
3 hrs (choose one public sector/policy course from)
AGEC 4613 Political Economy of Agriculture and Food
AGEC 5133 Agricultural and Environmental Resource Economics
AGEC 5153 Economics of Public Policy
1 hr AGEC 5011 Seminar

International Track Courses Taken at the University of Ghent, Belgium: Equivalent of 12 semester hours from the following special topics courses which are 1 to 3 semester hours each:

Fall term:
    AGEC 5023 Applied Rural Economic Research Methods
    AGEC 5023 Rural Development and Agriculture
    AGEC 5023 Food Marketing and Consumer Behavior
    AGEC 5023 Agricultural and Rural Policy
    AGEC 5023 Development Economics
    AGEC 5023 Microeconomic Theory and Farm Management
    AGEC 5023 Applied Statistics

Spring term:
    AGEC 5022 Scientific Communications on Rural Development
    AGEC 5023 Sociological Perspectives on Rural Development
    AGEC 5022 Agricultural Economics of Developing Countries
    AGEC 5023 Rural Project Management
    AGEC 5022 Econometrics
    AGEC 5022 Economics and Management of Natural Resources
    AGEC 5023 Advanced Marketing and Agribusiness Management
    AGEC 5023 The European Union's International Development Policy

Suggested Elective Courses

Choose 3 hours from:
    AGEC 503V Internship in Agricultural Economics (1-3 hours)
    Other graduate courses in Agricultural Economics (AGEC)
    Graduate courses in the Walton College of Business
    Other graduate courses
  A maximum of 9 hours of 4000 level courses are allowed toward satisfying degree requirements.

Comprehensive Exam

All non-thesis students must pass a written comprehensive exam. Students who enter the international agribusiness non-thesis program as of Fall 2014 will follow these procedures.

Students must answer four questions.

Part I consists of a question associated with the materials presented in AGEC 5403 Quantitative Methods for Agribusiness. Students must answer this question.
Part II consists of two questions, one each related to AGEC 5303 Agricultural Marketing Theory and AGEC 5413 Agribusiness Strategy. Students must answer one of these questions.
Part III consists of three questions each related to courses in the finance/management, policy and marketing or agribusiness strategy areas not answered in Part II. Students must answer two questions, each from different areas. That is a student cannot choose two questions from one area. For example, a student cannot choose two policy questions, but instead he/she must choose a question from policy and one from either finance/management, marketing or agribusiness strategy as long as the question was not answered in Part II.

Because the exam is offered at the end of each semester, and because it takes at least one week for it to be graded, the results of the exam are typically announced after the University deadline for completing all degree requirements. Therefore, a student who successfully completes the exam in any given semester should not expect to be awarded the M.S. degree until the following semester. The possible grades are: (1) pass, (2) marginal pass and (3) fail. Students receiving a marginal pass may rewrite the marginal or failed areas on another examination that will be given three weeks after the original examination. Students who fail the exam will have to wait until the next regularly scheduled examination.