BITS Program: Required courses
Tropical Horticulture EcologyÌý
Tuesday to Friday (TWRF), May 21-June 11, 2025; final exam June 13
AEBI 421
Trop. Horticultural Ecology
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Biology (Agric & Envir Sc): A comprehensive survey of the major fruit, vegetable, turf, and ornamental crops grown in Barbados. Effect of cultural practices, environment, pests and pathogens, social and touristic activities, and importation of horticultural produce on local horticulture.
Offered by: Plant Science
- Corequisite(s): AEBI 423, AEBI 425, AEBI 427
- Restriction: Restricted to students that are participating in the Barbados Interdisciplinary Tropical Studies Field Semester
- **Due to the intensive nature of this course, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the second lecture day and withdrawal is the fifth lecture day.
- Project course AEBI 427 runs concurrently with the other courses (AEBI 421, AEBI 423 & AEBI 425) and the Mondays of each week are dedicated to AEBI 427.
This 4-week-long course is co-taught by McGill and University of the West Indies (UWI) teaching staff. McGill and UWI undergrad students will share the learning experience! This course introduces students to the island agri-food system and importation vs local production issues. Students will visit the port of Barbados and grocery stores to view imports and current food situation. They will also visit tropical orchards, parks, nurseries, and government centres to see varied aspects of local food production.
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Sustainable Land Use
Tuesday to Friday (TWRF), June 18-July 4, 2025; final exam July 4
AEBI 423
Sustainable Land Use
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Biology (Agric & Envir Sc): Management, preservation, and utilization of forage crops in sustainable tropical environments; examination of their value as livestock feed in terms of nutritional composition and impact on animal performance; land use issues as it pertains to forage and animal production in insular environments.
Offered by: Plant Science
- Corequisite(s): AEBI 421, AEBI 425, AEBI 427
- Restriction: Restricted to students that are participating in the Barbados Interdisciplinary Tropical Studies Field Semester
- **Since this course is being taught abroad, la Fête Nationale du Québec (June 24th) and Canada Day (July 1st) statutory holidays will not be taken into consideration. Therefore, students are expected to attend their lectures on both Wednesday, June 24 and Wednesday, July 1, 2020.
- **Due to the intensive nature of this course, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the third lecture day and withdrawal is the sixth lecture day.
- Project course AEBI 427 runs concurrently with the other courses (AEBI 421, AEBI 423 & AEBI 425) and the Mondays of each week are dedicated to AEBI 427.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Philippe Seguin, Elsa Vasseur
This 3-week-long course introduces undergraduate students to tropical forages and feeds and domestic and wild animal production in Barbados. Land resources, environmental and socio-economic constraints affecting sustainable forage, feed, and animal production in the tropics are examined. Students will explore the production of small and large ruminants, dairy and poultry and visit nature parks with wild animals and birds on the island.
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Tropical Energy & Food Technology
Tuesday to Friday (TWRF), July 10–25, 2025; final exam July 25
AEBI 425
Tropical Energy and Food
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Biology (Agric & Envir Sc): Tropical biofuel crops, conversion processes and final products, particularly energy and greenhouse gas balances and bionutraceuticals. Topics include effects of process extraction during refining on biofuel economics, the food versus fuel debate and impact of biofuels and bioproducts on tropical agricultural economics.
Offered by: Plant Science
- Corequisite(s): AEBI 421, AEBI 423 and AEBI 427.
- Restriction: Restricted to students that are participating in the Barbados Interdisciplinary Tropical Studies Field Semester
- **Due to the intensive nature of this course, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the second lecture day and withdrawal is the fifth lecture day.
- Project course AEBI 427 runs concurrently with the other courses (AEBI 421, AEBI 423 & AEBI 425) and the Mondays of each week are dedicated to AEBI 427.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Donald L Smith, Mark G Lefsrud
This 3-week-long course introduces undergraduate students to tropical energy options (biodiesel, solar, wood, etc.) and related food and bioproducts (ie. rum industry products) in the tropics. Students will visit innovative local production facilities and food industry sites to fully illustrate tropical energy sector and agri-food industries in Barbados.
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Barbados Interdisciplinary Project
Monday (M), May 19-August 2, 2025; no final exam
AEBI 427
Barbados Interdisc Project
6 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Biology (Agric & Envir Sc): The planning of projects and research activities related to tropical food, nutrition, or energy at the local, regional, or national scale in Barbados. Projects and activities designed in consultation with university instructors, government, NGO, or private partners, and prepared by teams of 2-3 students working cooperatively with these mentors.
Offered by: Plant Science
- Corequisite(s): AEBI 421, AEBI 423 and AEBI 425
- Restriction(s): Restricted to students that are participating in the Barbados Interdisciplinary Tropical Studies Field Semester
- **Since this course is being taught abroad, the Victoria Day statutory holiday will not be taken into consideration. Therefore, students are expected to attend their lecture on Monday, May 18, 2020.
- **Due to the intensive nature of this course, the standard add/drop and withdrawal deadlines do not apply. Add/drop is the third lecture day and withdrawal is the sixth lecture day.
- Project course AEBI 427 runs concurrently with the other courses (AEBI 421, AEBI 423 & AEBI 425) and the Mondays of each week are dedicated to AEBI 427.
This is a project-based, research and communication course, designed to solve real-world problems related to nutrition, food, or energy issues at the local, regional, or international scale in Barbados. Under the supervision of the project director, groups of 2-4 students develop working plans and carry out a pilot research project, in consultation with academic, industrial, governmental, or non-governmental partners. Students will work directly with mentors at a designated host institution in Barbados over the 13-week interval and present a final report on their findings.
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