An Innovative Laboratory of Agricultural Technology is being established on the SUA campus
15.04.2025
The innovative agricultural technology laboratory will be the result of cooperation between the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra and Agrion - the Association of Agricultural Technology Suppliers in the Slovak Republic.
The aim of this unique project is to provide the latest types of agricultural machinery for the teaching of university students and thus connect studies more closely with practice. The construction of the laboratory, which is being created by reconstructing an old hall near the boiler room on the SUA campus, is financed by the AgroForestry project. This is a joint consortium of SUA and the Technical University of Zvolen, within which the universities are preparing joint study programs, but also implementing several investments. The planned date of handover of the finished laboratory is October 2025.
“The Agrion Secretariat will order machines from its member companies for a specific date in the facility, based on the university’s requirements. We also plan to implement training courses for secondary vocational school teachers, for which we will bring in the machines,” explained Peter Matejovič, who, as the president of Agrion and at the same time the chairman of the SUA Board of Directors, was looking for ways to best connect SUA and the association of agricultural machinery suppliers. “I am very pleased that there is great interest in this cooperation from our member companies as well as from the university,” he said.
The advantage of the project is that students will be able to physically touch the newest and most modern machines, which they will later encounter in practice. The development of agricultural technology is progressing at a rapid pace, while teaching material is stagnating. "The innovative laboratory will boost our teaching and teachers will have the latest information at their disposal. The connection with Agrion within the framework of this project will allow us to do what we have been trying to do for a long time - and that is to connect education with practice and create conditions for better contact between students and companies," emphasized Pavol Findura, Vice-Rector of SUA for Communication and Practice.
The Agrion Association, through its secretariat, will be able to arrange for the rental of the required types of machines directly on university grounds through its member companies according to the requirements of faculties and teachers. The Vice-Rector appreciates that cooperation with Agrion will be coordinated, because until now the machines were provided only on the basis of cooperation between teachers and specific companies, while the companies were often unable to deliver the equipment in time. "At the same time, teachers had established contacts only with some companies that did not necessarily have what they needed for teaching," pointed out P. Findura. The Innovative Laboratory of Agricultural Technology should in the future also include a virtual cave, in which students, as well as high school teachers or company customers, would have the opportunity to try out the controls of the machines in virtual reality. Financial resources are currently being sought for it.
Within the framework of the AgroForestry project, a new professional study program in mechatronics will also be created in cooperation with the Agrion association. A three-year bachelor's program is being prepared, with two years of it being teaching and the third year spent by the student on practical work directly in companies. "It is a program tailored to the requirements of companies that have determined for themselves what skills a graduate must master in order to be able to apply for them. A graduate will be able to find wide application as a
quality technical worker in our member companies, but also in other companies, in the field of service, repairs and logistics of machines," explained P. Matejovič, adding that in the next five years, the companies associated with Agrion will need around 100 people with such skills.
Agrion currently associates 61 companies, through which 90 percent of agricultural machinery sales in Slovakia go.
