With the support of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and FAO, the opening of a special cycle to build the capacity of experienced professionals working in the field of agricultural statistics responds to the need to strengthen the human resource capacity of these department. This cycle is part of the implementation of the training component of the Africa Action Plan of the Global Strategy for the Improvement of Agricultural and Rural Statistics, which is overseen by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

The 10-month training course (including a 3-month internship) leads to a Certificate in Agricultural Statistics. The teaching methods are adapted to the different disciplines to combine theory and practice.

Training

The teaching provided in this course is related to learning techniques for collecting and analyzing statistical and economic information as well as information processing, in the specific field of agricultural statistics. The subjects taught can be grouped into eight (8) Teaching Units:

  • Statistics (150 h) ;
  • Specificities of agricultural statistics (85 h) ;
  • Sampling (85 h);
  • Practice of agricultural surveys (50 h).

  • Processing and enhancement of results (170 h) ;
  • Economic accounts of agriculture (90 h) ;
  • Analysis of results (105 h);
  • Internship and Project (15 h of lectures and 375 h of Supervised Practical Work)
  • Conferences and thematic seminars
  • 3-month internship

Recruitment

The recruitment is organised from the NSIs and agricultural statistical services of the following countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo. A call for applications will be launched in these countries. Applicants will be required to have two years of experience in the service and to sign a commitment to remain in the service for two years after the training. Applicants should have at least a High School Diploma + 4 years of university studies level. A jury composed of ENSEA lecturers will be responsible for selecting the beneficiaries of the training from among the applicants.

Recruitment level :

  • Engineer in Statistics ;
  • Master 1 in Agricultural Sciences ;
  • Any other degree deemed equivalent.
Master in Agricultural Statistics Data Sheet
Registration Link

Vocation

The agricultural statistician collects statistical data in the agricultural and agri-food sector, summarizes them and then disseminates them to the general public (private companies, students, agricultural professionals, etc.) as well as to institutions and organisations that require agricultural statistics.

The main activities of the statistician are as follows

  • Census or sample survey at farm or farmer level;
  • Data collection through surveys from various providers such as provinces, professional organisations (chamber of agriculture, professional associations), various institutions;
  • Data acquisition;
  • Data synthesis by the company or sometimes analysis by external service providers;
  • Dissemination of results in various media (paper publications, Internet distribution, etc.);
  • Ancillary activity: study of specific cases according to the urgency of the situation

Job Opportunities

Agricultural statisticians may work in :

  • Administrations in charge of agriculture
  • Agro-industrial companies
  • Professional agricultural organisations
  • Non-governmental organisations;

Test of Knowledge

The semesters consist of 12 to 14 weeks of teaching and examination sessions. A mid-term jury assesses the students’ results. A first session jury assesses the students’ results after the two semesters of training. A catch-up session is organised after the first session jury. A jury of catch-up examines the results of this session. The jury is composed of all the permanent lecturers of ENSEA. Part-time lecturers may be associated with it. The jury has the final say on the results of the knowledge tests of the TU or the modules of the TU in which the student is registered for each semester.

Skills and knowledge acquisition are assessed either by regular continuous assessment, or by a final examination, or by a combination of these two modes of assessment.

  • Continuous assessment evaluates students throughout each semester (e.g. written or oral exams, presentations). This mode of assessment is favored in the LMD (Bachelor Master Doctorate) reform. It enables students to usefully assess their progress.
  • The final examination assesses the student at the end of the semester. This test takes the form of a written exam.

For each course, knowledge tests are planned. Each teacher proposes a mark between 0 and 20 at the end of the course. The methods of testing knowledge specific to each course of each module are decided by the Direction of Studies. These procedures concern the nature of the tests (written, oral, continuous assessment, presentations, dissertations, homework, group work, duration, documents authorized or not, etc.). The duration of the written tests varies within the limits of 1 hour to 3.5 hours. For professional subjects, the student’s own work will be assessed as far as possible.

An examination may consist of only one test per TU.

Students are informed of the form and methods of continuous assessment and examination when they register. They are informed, at least one month in advance, before the beginning of the first session, of the dates of the written tests and the oral examination periods. In the case of shortened sessions, they are informed at least two weeks before the beginning of the tests of the make-up session.

Information concerning the dates, times and places of examinations is posted at least one week before the beginning of the session on the notice boards provided for this purpose. This posting serves as an invitation to the examinations. By way of derogation, certain tests may take place outside the normal examination periods, taking into account the particular requirements of certain courses.

The documents that students are authorized to use during tests and examinations will also be indicated. No student may have more than two examination sessions or make-up sessions for the same TU. To benefit from this arrangement, students must provide proof that they belong to one of the categories defined above.

The tests of the second session are not necessarily based on the same model as those of the first session. The benefit of continuous assessment marks may be retained for the final calculation of the mark for the second session.

A TU may include different modules. A TU is passed:

  • When the average of the marks obtained for the different modules of the TU, calculated on the basis of weightings proportional to the number of credits allocated to each element, is equal to or higher than the average of 10.
  • By validation of acquired experience or higher education studies completed in France or abroad

Any TU passed grants the student the corresponding number of credits. The TUs are definitively passed and can be capitalized on as soon as the student has obtained an average of 10 (partial validation). The student benefits from the credits of the subjects for which the average is higher than 10 even if the TU is not validated.

The credits for a semester are obtained :

  • by compiling the credits obtained in each TU of the semester;
  • by validation of prior experience or higher education completed in France or abroad.
  • by validation of professional experience

The average of the end-of-year courses obtained by a student is equal to the average of the semester averages, calculated at the end of the first session of semester 2. To this average, a sports education mark (weighting 30%), a satisfaction mark (weighting 30%) of the student as well as a penalty for lack of attendance are added to obtain the annual average.

For sports education and appreciation, only the part of the mark between 12 and 20 counts. The sports education mark is attributed and communicated to the students by the Department of Studies on the proposal of the sports Education teacher. The general satisfaction mark takes into account all the work done during the year, the attendance and the general behavior of the student.

The following penalties are applied at the end of the year to the overall average according to the number of hours of unjustified absences

  • 10 to 19 hours: 0.025 points per hour of absence;
  • 20 hours or more: 0.05 points per hour of absence

Any student whose average is less than 10 out of 20 will be permanently excluded from ENSEA, except in cases of force majeure as determined by the jury of the first session.

Any student whose annual average is between 10 and 12 out of 20 is authorized to take part in the catch-up session to write subjects in which he/she has obtained marks lower than 12 out of 20. The list of subjects that may give rise to remedial examinations is left to the discretion of the jury of the first session. The number of modules that may give rise to remedial examinations may not exceed five.

The jury may decide to repeat the year for students whose annual average, recalculated after the retest session, is between 10 and 12. Only the TUs already validated can be capitalized. Only one repetition is authorized during the course.

The Certificate in Agricultural Statistics is an institutional diploma. It is obtained when the annual average is greater than or equal to 12. The validation of this Certificate is conditional on the validation of the course. The jury of the first session examines the award of the Certificate in Agricultural Statistics. It awards a grade on the basis of the annual training average according to the following scale (marked out of 20):

  • Grade “Fairly good” (mark at least equal to 12 and less than 14) ;
  • Grade “Good” (mark at least equal to 14 and less than 16);
  • Grade “Very Good” (mark at least equal to 16).

The remedial jury examines the issuance of the Certificate in Agricultural Statistics. It awards a “Fair” grade to students whose annual average, recalculated after the remedial session, is higher than 12. This average is automatically reduced to 12. The jury decides on the information specific to the course that must be included in the diploma supplement attached to the Certificate in Agricultural Statistics awarded to the student. The jury’s decisions are taken by consensus. At the end of the deliberations, the jury draws up a record of decisions, signed by the jury members. The minutes are posted.