A complete and total update in Animal Welfare with the most complete and rigorous online program on the market”

The professional master’s degree in Animal Welfare is a new and updated program that arises from growing demand among veterinary professionals for specialized training in Animal Welfare to minimize animal suffering, since, nowadays, the consumer demands not only healthier and safer food, but also food obtained through practices that ensure the protection and welfare of animals. 

The professional master’s degree in Animal Welfare includes a comprehensive syllabus covering the most important areas in the field, production animals, swine, cattle, poultry, including fish farming, pets and zoo animals. 

It addresses the concept of Animal Welfare and its evolution and applied ethology, one of the main welfare problems in all animal facilities. 

It covers animal ethics or bioethics as a differentiating element with respect to other similar training courses. Since this topic is usually included in philosophy programs, in health sciences it is usually addressed very superficially. The professional master’s degree in Animal Welfare, however, will thoroughly delve into it in depth given its relevance today.

The program will analyze current legislation and Animal Welfare in livestock farms, zoos, shelters and commercial animal establishments.   

It devotes a complete module to Animal Welfare in fish farming, the ethics of which barely make an appearance in other training programs on account of its relatively new status. 

Lastly, it includes two greatly important, complete modules devoted to Animal Welfare in transport and in slaughterhouses. These two moments in the life of these animals are extremely brief albeit crucial, since any incident, no matter how small, can upset the animal's welfare balance.

Join the elite with this highly effective training program and open new paths to aid in your professional progress"

This professional master’s degree in Animal Welfare contains the most complete and up-to-date scientific program on the market. The most important features include:

• The latest technology in online teaching software
• A highly visual teaching system, supported by graphic and schematic contents that are easy to assimilate and understand
• Practical cases presented by practising experts
• State-of-the-art interactive video systems
• Teaching supported by telepractice
• Continuous updating and recycling systems
• Autonomous learning: full compatibility with other occupations
• Practical exercises for self-evaluation and learning verification
• Support groups and educational synergies: questions to the expert, debate and knowledge forums
• Communication with the teacher and individual reflection work
• Content that is accessible from any fixed or portable device with an Internet connection
• Supplementary documentation databases are permanently available, even after finishing the course

Our innovative telepractice concept will give you the opportunity to learn through an immersive experience, which will provide you with a faster integration and a much more realistic view of the contents: “learning from an expert”

Our teaching staff is made up of professionals from different fields related to this specialty. In this way we ensure that we deliver the educational update we are aiming for. A multidisciplinary team of professionals trained and experienced in different environments, who will develop the theoretical knowledge in an efficient way, but above all, they will bring their practical knowledge from their own experience to the course: one of the differential qualities of this program.

The efficiency of the methodological design of this professional master’s degree, enhances the student's understanding of the subject. Developed by a multidisciplinary team of e-learning experts, it integrates the latest advances in educational technology. This way, you will be able to study with a range of comfortable and versatile multimedia tools that will give you the operability you need in your training. 

The design of this program is based on Problem-Based Learning: an approach that views learning as a highly practical process. To achieve this remotely, we will use telepractice learning: with the help of an innovative interactive video system, and learning from an expert, you will be able to acquire the knowledge as if you were actually dealing with the scenario you are learning about. A concept that will allow you to integrate and fix learning in a more realistic and permanent way.

With a methodological design based on proven teaching techniques, this innovative program will take you through different teaching approaches to allow you to learn
in a dynamic and effective way"

A complete training program that will allow you to acquire the most advanced knowledge in all the areas of intervention of a specialized veterinarian"

Our objective is to specialize highly qualified professionals for the working An objective that is complemented, moreover, in a global manner, by promoting human development that lays the foundations for a better society. This objective is materialized in helping professionals to reach a much higher level of competence and control. A goal that, in just a few months, you will be able to achieve, with a high intensity and effective program.

If your goal is to broaden your skill set to include new paths of success and development, this is your Animal Welfare: A training program that aspires to excellence”

General objectives

• Analyze the concept of Animal Welfare
• Examine human involvement in animal welfare
• Establish animal welfare assessment systems
• Provide a foundation of knowledge of applied animal ethology
• Examine ethology as a fundamental item in animal welfare
• Analyze the ethological basis for the main species of interest
• Analyze the ethical implications of the treatment of animals in society
• Substantiate the different ethical theories concerning animals
• Generate critical awareness of the human responsibility toward animals
• Examine our role in Animal Welfare
• Analyze the information on animal protection at the international level
• Analyze and compile all information on welfare in pig farms
• Identify Animal Welfare issues in dairy and beef cattle production
• Examine poultry establishments for both egg and meat production from an Animal Welfare point of view
• Analyze welfare in different species of interest
• Generate different points of view on the management and welfare of non-classical livestock species
• Identify welfare problems in companion animals
• Present welfare in beekeeping as a new field within the science of Animal Welfare
• Define welfare problems in zoo and shelter animals
• Assess animal welfare problems in shows
• Analyze the welfare of experimental and teaching animals
• Develop the concept of "sentient being" in fishes
• Examine welfare assessment in fish farming
• Identify facility and management problems in fish welfare
• Understand welfare in aquarium fish
• Discuss proper handling guidelines for effective livestock transport
• Examine the factors involved in livestock transportation
• Relate transport to health and productivity
• Examine neurological and physiological principles in stunning and slaughtering
• Assess the effectiveness of stunning systems and detect animals at risk of regaining consciousness
• Determine the main risk factors in improper stunning
• Identify the repercussions of the stunning system on meat quality

Specific objectives

Module 1. Animal Welfare. Concepts and Evolution

• Examine the concept of Animal Welfare in all its implications
• Analyze the physiological stress response in animals and its quantification
• Develop the concepts of stress and acute and chronic stress responses
• Fundamentalize the concepts of "eustress" and "distress"
• Determine the Animal Welfare implications in this stress response
• Develop the concept of freedoms and needs to understand Animal Welfare
• Examine the concept of Animal Welfare assessment 
• Specify current Animal Welfare assessment systems

Module 2. Applied Animal Ethology

• Develop the concept of applied animal ethology
• Establish the principles of learning and motivation in animals
• Identify the role of domestication in the development of current behaviors
• Demonstrate the importance of the study of ethology in assessing animal welfare
• Identify normal and abnormal animal behavior patterns
• Examine enrichment systems in wild and domestic animals and propose enrichment systems on farms or other facilities

Module 3. Animal Ethics

• Analyze the concept of animal ethics and bioethics in all its branches
• Provide a foundation for social, personal and professional ethics towards animals
• Examine the different ethical theories
• Develop the concept of animal status
• Identify the moral status that can be given to animals
• Substantiate animal integrity and hence animal abuse
• Introduce animal law and the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights
• Assess the role of human-animal relationships in welfare

Module 4. International Animal Protection Legislation  

• Analyze the development of animal protection regulations in the European Union
• Identify international actors in the development of animal protection legislation
• Present animal welfare regulations in countries outside the European Union

Module 5. Livestock Establishments. Welfare in Swine, Beef Cattle and Poultry 

• Analyze welfare problems in swine breeding establishments
• Examine welfare problems in the management of sows and piglets during lactation and rearing
• Analyze welfare during the fattening of pigs
• Examine cattle facilities from a welfare standpoint
• Determine welfare in dairy cattle facilities and during calf fattening
• Analyze welfare in laying hen establishments and in broiler establishments

Module 6. Welfare in Other Species of Interest 

• Analyze welfare in dairy sheep and goats, and in sheep feedlots
• Examine equine welfare
• Address welfare in rabbit farms
• Acquire specialized knowledge of welfare in alternative poultry production
• Analyze the welfare of big game species (deer, roe deer, fallow deer, etc.) and small game species (rabbit, hare, partridge, quail, etc.)
• Analyze the welfare of camelids
• Examine welfare in companion animals
• Identifye welfare aspects in beekeeping

Module 7. Welfare in Zoos, Shelters and Other Facilities and Establishments 

• Define welfare problems in zoos animals
• Analyze indicators to assess welfare in zoos
• Assess Animal Welfare in zoos
• Examine welfare problems in shelter animals
• Develop welfare assessment protocols for animal shelters
• Identify welfare problems in entertainment, research and teaching animals
• Evaluate welfare assessment protocols for experimental and teaching animals

Module 8. Animal Welfare in Fish Farming

• Define the physiological stress response in fish
• Analyze information on consciousness, pain and fear in fish
• Develop the most effective indicators to assess welfare in fish
• Examine measures of water quality and their implications for fish
• Discuss the main welfare issues in fish farming
• Establish the best management guidelines for fish to minimize suffering
• Examine the welfare of fish during capture in both farmed and commercial fisheries
• Determine the welfare of aquarium fish

Module 9. Animal Welfare during Transportation

• Examine the behavior of animals in relation to transportation
• Establish the environmental and management factors that affect welfare during transportation
• Identify the correct handling and transportation guidelines for cattle and swine
• Determine the correct handling and transportation guidelines for poultry
• Examine the correct handling and transportation guidelines for fish
• Assess differences in Animal Welfare as a function of means of transportation
• Present the relation between animal transportation and health and productivity

Module 10. Animal Welfare during Slaughter

• Analyze the principles of consciousness and insensibility in animals
• Define the potential causes of pain during animal slaughter
• Specify the most effective stunning systems for each animal species
• Examine the indicators for correct stunning
• Identify the main factors that can lead to inadequate stunning
• Assess the repercussions of stunning systems on carcass and meat quality
• Provide a foundation for animal euthanasia principles

A path to achieve specialization and professional growth that will propel you towards a greater level of competitiveness in the employment market”