51 A Training Approach in the Field of Livestock Farming Systems and Animal Products Chains: An Initiation to Projects Engineering about the Charolais Beef Production

Abstract The text describes a training approach at the Institut National Agronomique, Paris-Grignon (France), part of the cursus leading to the degree of « Ingenieur Agronome ». This sequence has a methodological purpose: to teach the students how to develop a project, in the field of animal production and the related farming systems or food chains.It was done in co-operation with the professional circles, economical organisations and firms of the Charolais beef meat chain. After a one week study tour in the Charolais zone, the students developed their projects by teams of 4 or 5 people, each. The projects were defined in order to answer real questions related to the farming systems or the beef meat chain. This type of pedagogy appears to be very attractive for the students, efficient for the education process and also interesting for the professional partners The framework of realisation The pedagogical approach that we are going to describe and analyse in this paper has been applied in 1995, in the second year course of Institut National Agronomique, Paris-Grignon (INA PG). The INA PG is part of the group of the « Grandes Ecoles » (competitive engineering schools, one of the two main systems for higher education in France, the other one being the Universities). The students are mainly recruited by competitive entrance examination after 2-3 years of