The Cracow’s Higher School of Health Promotion has received a grant from the Scholarship and Training Fund established by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism and the national funds – The Scholarship and Training Fund – The Development of Polish Higher Education on a project entitled: ”The Graduate Studies: Organic Food and Dietetics”.
The operator of the grant is The Foundation for Development of Education System.
The total value of the project amounts to 1,080,639.00 PLN (polish zloty) of which the value of the bailout partially amounts to 972,575.10 PLN which constitutes 90% of the qualified costs of the project ., in contrast, the own contribution amounts to 108,063.90 PLN which constitutes 10% of the qualified costs.
The aim of the programme is to develop and in the future launch of an innovative interdisciplinary programme of graduate studies in English for ”Organic food and dietetics” and spreading the knowledge on implementing of the healthy food in Poland and throughout the world. Another aim is to work out the strategy for the education development based on the best practises from NTNU and Norway, using the Polish experience with existing co-operation with Norway.
WHO defined the organic food (and feed) as a way to strengthen the quality of life and improve the health and therefore encourages the member states to promote multisectoral cooperation and action in this area. Despite the recognition by the WHO and the national strategies for the development of eco-food supply, nutrition and the promotion of movement and despite the existence of scientific evidence confirming the efficacy of such solutions and visible market needs, the introduction of those new solutions in this range is relatively slow (see: The Chain of Trust Project Report 2012) due to limited:
- knowledge of the capabilities and efficiency of the use of eco-health food (The Chain of Trust Project Report 2012)
- awareness of the importance of the topic at: farmers, breeders, physicians, biomedical engineers, health managers and the business world.
- operation between networks and individual shareholders eco-food chain
- offer for training specialists.
The project involves experts from Norway, whose task is to bring the project team and as a result the would-be students the teaching method and Norwegian market solutions in the areas of health, food and nutrition and dietetics, the importance of movement for health and life span. An expert from Norway will present Norwegian experience and trends, opportunities and challenges of teaching in the course of Master Classes in Eco-Food & Dietetetics in Cracow. He will assist in organizing a study visit in Norway (the University Hospital, NTNU), which goal is to practical acquainting the students with the solutions and technologies applied in Norway and around the world.
Education in the field ”Organic food and dietetics” will cover all aspects related to nutrition education, health promotion, nutrition of a healthy man and in various disease states. The profile of the training and the selection of subjects will provide the students with the ability to practical application of the acquired knowledge in a wide range of ecological issues of nutrition and dietetics, with particular emphasis on prevention of the diet-related diseases.
In the curriculum a thematic block ecology will be developed with the objects of the environmental issues and the climate change. We are taking into account the introduction to the plan of study such subjects as ecology of soil, water, air, organic crops cultivation (food and feed), organic livestock, the impact of the climate on the change of the nature (crops and farm animals) and the man.
In addition, the project education materials will cover the up-todate information on improving the quality of the environment (eg. the possibilities of reducing environmental pollution by qualifying the use of fertilizers, replacing chemical pesticides on the biological ones, introduction of modern non-waste technology, food processing, storage, transportation).
These subjects will increase the awareness of students, graduates and the university employees concerning the environment and climate change and increase the knowledge schools and universities in this respect. In addition, during the lasting of the project the conferences, workshops and events will be held which the leading theme is going to be the environment and the health. The participation in these events deepens knowledge and increases the international cooperation in the field of the climate change mitigation, including eg. more frequent use of the so-called ”green” environmentally friendly technologies and the capture and storage of CO2 (CCS). The topics of the conferences, workshops and events are supposed to increase the awareness and the knowledge about dangerous substances, including eg. prevention of the negative for the environment effects caused by hazardous wastes (eg. Animal blood, dead farm animals) or chemicals.
A graduate of the ”Organic food and dietetics” field of study will be prepared to work in a public and private nutrition institutions, tourist and medical facilities, private enterprises, public institutions or research institutions involved in the development, implementation, and the practical use of the health oriented innovative solutions. Skills acquired through the program will also be useful when running one’s own business, especially focused on the fast-growing healthy nutrition.
A graduate will become a specialist in the field of:
- Planning and implementation of individual nutrition, collective and medicinal nutrition for various population groups,
- Prevention and nutritional treatment of the diet-related diseases,
- Assessment of the status and the way of nutrition as well as the diagnosis of malnutrition,
- Assessment for the need of the macro- and the micronutrients to the patients,
- Using of clinical nutrition with the organic food and the natural diets,
- Using of healing products for the treatment of diseases,
- Nutrition education,
- Conducting research in the field of the organic food,
- Food quality control, the conditions for its storage and the food production.
A graduate will be familiar with the basics of marketing, food law, ecology and law and economics in healthcare.
The School Authorities are convinced that thanks to the efforts of the teaching staff, supported by the additional funding from the project, they will manage to create the graduate studies that could prepare the students to take up the profession of the mastered field of study.
Through the Norwegian funds and the EEA funds Norway is contributing to the reducing of the social and economic inequalities and strengthening the bilateral relations with the beneficiary countries in Europe. Norway is closely cooperating with the EU on the grounds of the European Economic Area Agreement (EEA Agreement).
In 2009-2014 the financial aid given by Norway adds up to 1.7 billion euros. These funds are available for the non-governmental organizations, the research and academic institutions as well as the public and private sector in 12 newly-accepted Member States of the EU and Greece, Portugal and Spain. Due to them a wide cooperation with the business entities from Norway has been taken place and the undertakings can be enforced by 2016.
The official website of the project:
www.ecofood.kwspz.pl