Established for 180 years in the heart of Europe’s leading agricultural and agri-food area, AGROCAMPUS OUEST (Institute for Life, Food and Horticultural Sciences and Landscaping) is a Grande école, or ‘elite public university-level college’ under the authority of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Offering an impressive potential unrivalled elsewhere in France for training and research in areas ranging from food production to lanscape architecture, AGROCAMPUS OUEST has a triple vocation: 1) training students to a high scientific level (three training cycles: Master, MSc in Engineering, PhD), 2) conducting multidisciplinary academic and applied research based on the sustainable development of resources and territories, in close partnership with national and international leading research organizations, universities and economic stakeholders and 3) transferring knowledge to the socio-economic sector, following 5 thematic areas (Vegetal, Animal, Systems; Environmental issues- resources, territory and city; Fisheries, sea and coast; Food and Landscaping). AO is ISO 9001-certified for all its activities. All aspects of life sciences are studied here via agricultural and agri-food approaches as well as from economic, managerial and social perspectives.
AO headquartered in Rennes, is composed of two training and research centers, one in Rennes specialized in agriculture and food science and one in Angers specialized in horticulture and landscaping. It is organized in 6 teaching and research departments and 13 research units, among them, one research unit named the Research Institute on Horticulture and Seeds (IRHS).
