42 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM English (Spanish at UPV). As for all Erasmus Mundus Master Programmes, the European Commission provides very generous grants which will allow many students from different countries to study within emPLANT. emPLANT graduates will therefore experience in-depth training in intercultural teamwork and will be suited to work in an international setting once they enter the labour market. ES: CURRENTLY THERE IS A GREAT SHORTAGE OF EDUCATION POSSIBILITIES IN PLANT BREEDING. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO FUTURE STUDENTS AT EMPLANT? SR: Plant Breeding is clearly a field of the future. As pointed out by the JRC, “innovation in plant breeding is necessary to meet the challenges of global changes such as population growth and climate change” (Lusser et al. 2011). Noleppa (2016) confirmed this thesis with a recent report on “The economic, social and environmental value of plant breeding in the European Union”. The study shows that innovation in plant breeding over the last 15 years increased productivity in EU arable farming by 74%. In addition, the study reveals that in the field of arable crops 3,4 billion tons of direct CO2 emissions have been avoided, 55 billion m3 of water have been saved, approximately 70’000 jobs have been created and as far as 30% of the annual income of an EU farmer is generated by plant breeding. This shows the significant contribution of plant breeding to achieve food/nutrition security and climate change goals in Europe and the world. emPLANT is the unique possibility to study plant breeding in an international setting at two of Europe’s leading institutions in this field, obtain two diplomas and entry cards to two labour markets, benefit from many joint activities and create a net- work among plant breeding specialists from all over the world. In addition, by becoming an official Erasmus Mundus Master Programme, emPLANT has received over 3,4M€ of funding dedicated to attract the best students from Europe and beyond and train them. 83% of the 74 scholarships for emPLANT are earmarked for students from outside Europe. These scholarships are very generous, see Fig. 2. ES: I SEE YOU HAVE SEVERAL PARTNERS FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR, AS WELL AS ESA. HOW WILL THESE ORGANIZATIONS BE SUPPORTING THE CONSORTIUM? SR: The collaboration between the higher education institutions and the private sector is crucial. emPLANT wants to ensure that the employability of the graduates is the highest possible, therefore it is essential to have a continuous dialogue with the sector that employs the majority of plant breeders. Our private sector partners have committed to support emPLANT in a variety of ways: pro- viding guest lecturers, internships, participating in the advisory committees of emPLANT, opening their facilities for visits, helping with student recruitment, disseminating information about the pro- gramme and its results, etc. The seed-funding provided by the European Commission for the first three intakes of the programme will provide the oppor- tunity to increase the visibility of the programme and to create a brand in the field of higher education in plant breeding. We will also be working with the private sector on the sustainability of the pro- gramme after the end of the support by the European Commission. ES: THE CONSORTIUM ALSO HAS SEVERAL PARTNERS FROM OUTSIDE EUROPE, E.G. FROM BRAZIL, ECUADOR, PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA. HOW WILL THESE PARTNERS BE INVOLVED IN THE PLANT BREEDING CURRICULUM? SR: The funding provided by the European Union provides also a budget line for inviting the best international guest lecturers in the field of plant breeding. Our international partners will therefore be our go-to points to recruit international top-notch speakers, teachers and researchers to complement and further increase the quality of emPLANT. In addition, students can opt to spend up to three months of their 4th semester at one of our partner institutions to enrich their Master theses. Our interna- tional partners will also be the emPLANT embassies all over the world and will help to spread the word on this Master pro- gramme and help recruit the best international students. Moreover, as with our partners from the private sector, we wish to encourage the emergence of international and cross-sec- toral research projects so as to position emPLANT as a future comprehensive knowledge hub in the field of plant breeding. Partner Country students Programme Country students Contribution to emPLANT participation costs 18’000€€ (2-year full- time Master degree) 9’000€€ (2-year full- time Master degree) Contribution to travel costs 2’000€ €/year if place of residence is less than 4’000km from UniLaSalle 3’000€ €/year if place of residence more than 4’000km from UniLaSalle 1’000€€/year Contribution to installation costs 1’000€€ N.A. Living allowance (max. 24 months) 1’000€ €/month (not in country of residence and max. 3 months in any Partner Country) 1’000 € €/month (not when in country of residence) FIGURE 2: SCHOLARSHIP SPECIFICS AT EMPLANT Trust isn’t something that grows overnight. Many farming families have relied on KWS for generations. For more than 160 years, we’ve been the seed specialist that delivers what farmers expect – the best quality seed for sugar beet, corn, cereals, rapeseed and sunflowers. That’s why it comes as no surprise farmers consider orange the color of reliability. Find out more at our website. “KWS and me. That’s reliability.” www.kws.com