The Academic Degree in Poultry Health Sciences by the University of Ghent is a three years program offered as an Online course supported with in total 5 weeks of onsite practical training and 2 weeks of externship. Download the brochure.
Our students include employees from companies & organisations who want their employees to become best-in-class poultry professionals. Are you ready to boost your career? Send our brochure to your manager.
Registration deadline: 31 August 2024
The next session will start in September 2024.
If you are interested in joining, please contact us so we can help you with the registration process or any question related to the course.
This Academic Degree in Poultry Health Sciences is designed to suit those in continuing employment or with other commitments.
The Ghent University Academic Degree in Poultry Health Sciences will offer an unique opportunity to study in-depth the different aspects of poultry health sciences, bridging the gap between theoretical and applied knowledge, aiming to equip current and future professionals with knowledge, skills and understanding to address global and local challenges in future poultry production.
Academic Degree in Poultry Health Sciences
Shanghai Rankings: #1 in Veterinary Sciences
Course available in 3 continents
Academic Degree in Poultry Health Sciences
Course structure
The Academic Degree in Poultry Health Sciences is a three years program offered as an online course supported with in total 5 weeks of onsite practical training and 2 weeks of externship.
Online and distance learning offers students the flexibility of studying from anywhere and at any time over the internet.
This new online academic degree offers a new way of combining innovative learning and teaching techniques with interaction between lecturers and fellow students from around the world.
By combining this online course with short period of onsite practical trainings students will be able to acquire both in-depth theoretical and practical knowledge.
This academic degree is designed to suit those in continuing employment or with other commitments.
This course is designed to educate students with a diverse educational background with an interest in poultry health sciences, not only veterinarians.
Shanghai Rankings: Veterinary Sciences
The Faculty of veterinary medicine is ranked #1 in the Shanghai Rankings – Veterinary Sciences.
Course available in 3 continents
The academic degree in Poultry Health Sciences is available in 3 continents.
- Latin America: started in academic year 2022-2023
- Europe: with start in academic year 2024-2025, and
- Asia: with start in academic year 2024-2025
Online course:
Background of the course
There has been an increasing pressure on the livestock sector to meet the growing demand for high-value animal protein.
The world’s livestock sector is growing at an unprecedented rate and the driving force behind this increased consumption of animal protein is a combination of population growth, rising incomes and urbanization.
One of the most sustainable sources of animal protein is poultry, as chickens do not require a lot of land and water and are highly efficient in converting feed to body mass, as compared to other production animals.
The poultry industry is characterized by highly efficient production systems and advanced technologies. A successful poultry production requires knowledge in various disciplines, including management, husbandry, biosecurity, health, nutrition, disease control, sustainability, animal welfare, food safety among others.
The poultry industry supplies millions of jobs across the globe. Over the next 10 years, thousands qualified poultry people will be needed in the industry. In the poultry industry, there are jobs available to fit nearly any interest such as veterinary sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, nutrition, disease and quality control, sustainability, environmental friendly production, animal welfare, digitalization, poultry product development, just to name a few.
Advanced professional training
Advanced training courses and workshops contribute to the training of many employees of veterinary practices, pharmaceutical companies, animal feed and animal feed additive companies, research institutes and universities.
These types of trainings enables these people to further develop their expertise in poultry health sciences and subsequently improve their career prospects in the poultry sector.
However, these short technical trainings are limited in time and focus only on the newest trends in poultry health issues.
Therefore, this academic degree in Poultry Health Sciences was developed to offer an in-depth educational program to educate fundamental and applied knowledge, to bridge the gap between research and field expertise.
Chair Poultry Health Sciences
In 2019, the Chair Poultry Health Sciences was established at th Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University (Belgium).
With this Chair, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine embeds its expertise in international poultry farming. The chair has been jointly established by the department of Pathobiology, Pharmacology and Zoological Medicine (prof. dr. Filip Van Immerseel and prof. dr. Siska Croubels, promoters chair) and two Flemish companies Vetworks and Poulpharm.
Prof. dr. Gunther Antonissen is appointed as chairholder.
This chair offers an unique opportunity to encourage partnership with national and international industrial partners, universities, and research institutes focusing on poultry research and education.
A successful poultry production needs knowledge in various disciplines, including management, housing and climate control, disease control, nutrition, sustainability, and animal welfare among others.
There is thus a high demand for trained and educated experts.
Furthermore, there is an obvious need for effective solutions for many challenges, including infectious and non-infectious diseases, and increased consumer awareness of food safety, sustainability and animal welfare for which fundamental and applied research is necessary.
A collaboration between Ghent University and two companies, Vetworks and Poulpharm, will strengthen both education and research in this area of poultry health sciences.
Time to discover the research topics and researchers of the team Chair Poultry Health Sciences. All research project and researcher are presented in a movie, click on the underlined name of the research topic or researcher to play the movie.
