BANGKOK, Thailand – The Master of Science in Food Security and Climate Change (MS FSCC) conducted its final project meeting on 3 - 4 October 2019 at Kasetsart University (KU) in Bangkok, Thailand. The MS FSCC is a joint degree project offered by five members of the University Consortium for Graduate Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC): Kasetsart University (KU) in Thailand, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in the Philippines, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Malaysia, Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) and Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), in Indonesia.

The final meeting discussed the project accomplishments vis-a-vis the planned targets and the difficulties and challenges met in the project implementation which are to be included in the project report. Dr. Poonpipope Kasemsap, Project Coordinator and Leader of the MS FSCC, presided during the meeting and provided an overview of the project, outcomes, and outputs. Dr. Mark Dondi Arboleda, UPLB Graduate School Secretary, presented a draft of the students’ handbook with comments coming from the project team members. Prof. Dr. Robiah Yunus, Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, presented the established MS FSCC curriculum in their institution. In the afternoon, the project members participated in a webinar hosted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) regarding the preparation of the final report.

On the final day of the project meeting, Dr. Didier Pillot of Montpellier SupAgro, discussed the next steps and prospective cooperation and new projects arising from the MS FSCC.

The MS FSCC project is partially-funded by the European Commission’s ERASMUS + Capacity Building for Higher Education. The ERASMUS project is being led by Kasetsart University (KU) and is participated by 11 other partners from Southeast Asia and 5 partners from Europe. For more information about the MS FSCC project, visit: https://msfscc.org. (Paula Grace M. Muyco)