The Class of 2011 was a challenge to develop and deepen the heritage of ideas, activities and ideas that Ernesto Illy had left as a moral heritage.

This challenge was accepted by the following students:

1. Andres Ignacio Salaverria Alfaro – El Salvador
2. Enosh Ongosi Akuma – Kenya
3. Ernesto Vittorio Leone Illy – Switzerland
4. Esteban Ordoñez Simmonds – Colombia
5. Furio Massolino – Italy
6. Harris Luzinda – Uganda
7. Juan Alfredo Pacas Martinez – El Salvador
8. María Monserrat Hernández Sánchez – Costa Rica
9. Marta Todarello – Italy
10. Merhawit Hadush Gebremariam – Ethiopia
11. Pedro Paulo De Faria Ronca – Brazil
12. Pedro Rodrigues Alves Silveira – Brazil
13. Primus Oswald Kimaryo – Tanzania
14. Sergio Bocanegra Dalponte – Guatemala
15. Shravan Thejas Devarunda Shankar – India

Each of them brought to the class their own experiences, which were merged with the knowledge that the Professors transferred, providing the graduates a wide range of opportunities in the entire coffee sector as well as in the agri-food sector.

Here are the words of two representatives from the first Class of the Master:

“Attending this Master has given me something unique, as well as given me the education as a “coffee expert”; it was an experience that opened my mind. I believe that thanks to the multidisciplinary approach focused on the entire chain of coffee production, the Master gave me the chance to work at any point of the agri-food sector in general”.

– Pedro Rodrigues Alves da Silveira

“The Master gave me the opportunity to have a wide and clear perspective of the entire chain of coffee production. It gave me the opportunity to see beyond the perspective of a coffee producer. It was great to learn how each producing country is different from one another, and share this knowledge with our fellow students. What I liked the most and the message I received was the importance of having love and passion towards what you do at the base of everything”.

– Andres Ignacio Salaverria Alfaro

The success of the first edition saw an increase in the number of applications for the Class of 2012 of the Master’s Program that began in January 2012 and ended in October 2012, when the students below defended their thesis.

1. Antonio Filippi – Italy
2. Augustin Manirakiza – Burundi
3. Bahati Mlwilo – Tanzania
4. Berhane Ghebremichael – Ethiopia
5. Caetano de Carvalho Berlatto – Brazil
6. Daniel Fernando Pérez Anzueto – Guatemala
7. Glauce de Fernandes e Lourenço – Brazil
8. Helen Catalina Albizù Portillo – Guatemala
9. Heloisa Mara de Melo – Brazil
10. Hugo Valdivia – Peru
11. Madlyn Giovanna Madrid Arroyo – Colombia
12. Marco Mammana – Brazil
13. Pedro Silveira Lisboa – Brazil
14. Prathik Sargod – India
15. Rodolfo Anleu Rodriguez – Guatemala
16. Rosa María Valdivia – Peru
17. Vinay Bellur – India

For many of the participants, the Master’s Program was a turning point in their life, but especially a concretization of what the world of coffee could offer them.

Here are the words of two representatives from the second edition of the Master:

This Master’s Program has changed my life from many points of view; I completely gave up on the idea that I had before attending this program to leave the world of coffee… I’m still very much involved in this world because of my family, coffee represents the past, but especially the present and the future with many challenges and endless things to study and explore. I will continue to study and experience on my plantation.

– Madlyn Giovanna Madrid Arroyo

The Master’s Program is absolutely a fantastic emersion into the world of coffee for all those who do not believe that there are limits in what they are doing.

– Marco Carneiro Mammana

For the first time, with the third edition of the Master’s Program, we have students coming from coffee consuming countries. If students coming from the producing countries find it useful to understand how the coffee sector behaves in the consuming countries, it is also essential the contrary: students from consuming countries must understand the origin of the product in order to be aware of the importance of sustainable development.

Here below are the students of the Class of 2013:

1. Alexander Araujo Morales – Colombia
2. Andrea Fabbiani – Italy
3. Ashley Anne Prentice – Guatemala
4. Fabio de Carvalho Rodrigues – Brazil
5. Fiorella Rosales Ugarte – Peru
6. Frank Joseph Nyarusi – Tanzania
7. Guilherme Keniti Kasuga Morya – Brazil
8. Luis Arocha Urbina – Guatemala
9. Mario Alberto Arroyo Uder – Costarica
10. Marjorie Patricia Canjura Pinto – El Salvador
11. Michael Kaiser – United States
12. Regina Wambui Mwangi – Kenya
13. Shwetha Ashwath – India
14. Techane Gonfa Abebie – Ethiopia
15. Thomas Böttner – Germany
16. Vanessa Ardila Lòpez – Colombia

After a number of years of completing the Program, the students of the Class of 2013 continue to emphasize the crucial role that the Master has had in their own personal and career development, repeating that the Master is a complete program for those who work in the coffee sector or for those who have intention of entering it.

“I would like to express some thoughts on the Master: 1) knowledge is the key point of the program that provides the opportunity to strengthen people to create new generations in the sector. 2) I strongly believe that the Ernesto Illy Foundation is making a huge effort to transfer knowledge to these new generations. 3) …I am still very much convinced of the need of this program for the world of coffee. 4) The knowledge and network that a student gets during the program is essential for future development”.

– Mario Alberto Arroyo Uder

The master’s program has truly given form to my life; I am so glad to be a “product” of this program. After the Master’s program, I have had many career advancements. I can tell you now that I am an all-round woman of coffee.”

– Regina Wambui Mwangi

The Class of 2014 was perhaps the one in which the emotional connotation of the Master was the strongest. In their five-month stay in Trieste, sharing their daily lives together, the students of the Class of 2014 formed unbreakable relationships that have extended to what we can now call a true network of graduates in Coffee Economics and Science.

In this network that extends throughout the world, students discuss common themes, information is exchanged and news on coffee is spread with the aim of helping one another.

With the Class of 2014, the following students have officially become a part of this network:

1. Abiyu Melaku Addis – Ethiopia
2. Angelica Maria Madrigal García – Colombia
3. Chengcheng Su – China
4. Diego José Bolaños Fuentes – El Salvador
5. Elena Zottig Pintor – Italy
6. Emmerence Ndishimiyimana – Burundi
7. Eric Medina – United States
8. Gabriel Miari – Brazil
9. Habtamu Mesfin – Ethiopia
10. Laura Moreno Motta – Colombia
11. Lorenzo Del Terra – Italy
12. Marcos Borjas – Honduras
13. Mauricio Obregon – Mexico
14. Murilo Baccetti – Brazil
15. Sascha Renjifo – Colombia
16. Stephany Dávila – Guatemala

Quoting the words of the Class of 2014 students…

“What’s so special about this Master? In a word? Impossible. There are so many aspects that make this master’s program unique. It’s a life changing experience. It opens your mind and widens your horizons. You come here thinking you have a strong knowledge of coffee. And then you realize your knowledge of coffee was just the tip of the iceberg…This master’s program offers you experiences you will never forget, knowledge that will be fundamental for your coffee future and networking that will help you open doors. And the students? They are the ones who bring energy, motivation and the coffee culture of their countries every day into the classroom. In these months of the master program, the students become your family away from home. Together you discuss, learn and dream about coffee”.

– The students of the Class of 2014

The students of the Class of 2015 were a lucky class: they were the participants in the largest celebration of coffee in history held at the Universal Exhibition (EXPO) in Milan.

1. Ashritha B.C – India
2. Bruno Gonçalves Ribeiro – Brazil
3. Claudia Baldassi – Italy
4. Delvana Mutarutwa – Burundi
5. Diana Alexandra Gomez Paramo – Colombia
6. Diogo Amorim – Portugal
7. Iliana Delgado Chegwin – Colombia
8. Juan Andres Gutierrez – El Salvador
9. Juan Esteban Cardona Yepes – Colombia
10. Kevin Njogu Njuki – Kenya
11. Marcelo Bothrel Zanetti – Brazil
12. Marco Falcomer – Italy
13. Margherita Cescutti – Italy
14. Maria Cristina Fett Furtado de Andrade – Brazil
15. Mihir Lawrence Francis Rebello – India
16. Olfron Saldanha – India
17. Olvin Rodriguez – Honduras
18. Wissam Charaf – Lebanon
19. Zekariyas Zerihun Abebe – Ethiopia

At EXPO Milan 2015, specifically in the Coffee Cluster pavilion, the Class of 2015 gave presentations of each module of the didactic program that composes the Master, covering the entire coffee chain from a scientific as well as from an economic point of view.

“Why did I decide to do this master? Working on a coffee plantation, I always thought I needed to know more about the economics part of the coffee sector. I needed to leave the plantation to fully understand the sector in order to understand also how the system works in the consuming countries”.

– Bruno Gonçalves Ribeiro

“I would definitely recommend this Master to all those people who work in the economic side of the sector. It is so important to know also the scientific part that is behind the world of coffee. This knowledge makes our work easier by understanding what is happening both in the coffee plantations as well as in the industrial sector. There is a lot more science involved than you can imagine”.

– Iliana Delgado Chegwin

The sixth edition of the Master’s Program saw an exponential increase in the number of applications for admission into the program. The Master’s Program has acquired with time a prestigious position in the field of coffee and, as demonstrated by the survey asked to the alumni of the previous editions, the Master’s Program has ensured career outlets that are more and more extensive in the coffee industry.

Here are the participants of the Class of 2016:

1. Adengada Vijai Adarsh Poovaiah – India
2. Arnaulde Irangabiye – Ruanda
3. Carlos Humberto Umanzor Membreno – Honduras
4. Caroline Alexandra Godoy Kellems – Guatemala
5. Chia-Chi Hu – Taiwan
6. Dagmawi Iyasu Eminetu – Etiopia
7. Darshan Talalur Prasanna – India
8. David Alejandro Hernandez Dominguez – Honduras
9. Diego De Jesus Lezcano Marana – Panama
10. Edith Meza Sagarvinaga – Perù
11. Enrico Buttignoni – Italia
12. Pothen Manamel George – India
13. Henry William Ross – Nicaragua
14. Irene Marcuzzi – Italia
15. Jaba Alemayehu Merdassa – Ethiopia
16. Jose Manuel Acevedo Bonilla – El Salvador
17. Justin Mokry Will – Stati Uniti
18. Kambale Kisumba Kamungele – R.D. del Congo
19. Luisa Fernanda Rodriguez Perez – Guatemala
20. Luz Stella Artajo Medina – Colombia
21. Mirtila Aurora Rodriguez Izaba – Nicaragua
22. Patrick Zeal – Ghana
23. Samantha Romero Arriola – Perù
24. Victor Monseff De Almeida Campos – Brasile

The seventh edition of the Master’s Program saw three new countries – and not all from coffee producing countries – join the long list of nationalities interested in this unique Master’s Program: Indonesia, Ecuador and Albania. With every year. the number of applications for admission to the program increases, indicating that the Master’s Program has acquired with time an important place for the educational world dedicated to coffee and the industry.

Here are the participants of the Class of 2017:

1. Angel Jose Batlle Cerna – El Salvador
2. Anisa Peti – Albania
3. Basilio Fuschich
4. Cristian Andrés Reyes Camacho – Colombia
5. Fitsum Bekere Ligdi – Ethiopia
6. Gabriele Zichittella – Italy
7. Gabriele Starini – Italy
8. Gustavo Enrique Magana – El Salvador
9. Hassan Gwando – Tanzania
10. Isabel Rodriguez Cordon – Guatemala
11. Jean-Jacques Ndayisenga – Rwanda
12. José Carlos Dutriz – El Salvador
13. José Gerardo Diaz Martinez – El Salvador
14. Livia Maria Silva Mundim – Brazil
15. Manuel Eduardo Ramos Diaz – Guatemala
16. Maria Alejandra Olano Nieto – Colombia
17. Maria de Los Angeles Franco – Peru
18. Mario Francisco Idrovo Rodriguez – Ecuador
19. Monserrat Abad Bazan – Mexico
20. Mwajuma Hamis Mwangu – Tanzania
21. Riccardo Zanin – Italy
22. Silvia Corallo – Italy
23. Tri Puspita Yuli Hapsari – Indonesia
24. Vincenzo Busa – Italy
25. Wendy Esmeralda Campos Barboza – Costa Rica
26. William Arch Ford – United States
27. Yang Liu – China

The increase in applications for admission to the Master continues, which consolidates its international reputation, guaranteeing career opportunities at a global level.

Here below are the participants of the Class of 2018:

1. Afonso Pimenta Maranhão Faria – Brazil
2. Allan Teixeira Monteiro – Brazil
3. Ana Sofia Navaez Salgado – Nicaragua
4. Andrea Estefania Munoz Vivanco – Ecuador
5. Bianca Maria Male – Italy
6. Carmen Elena Barahona Dominguez – Honduras
7. Claudia Elena Rivera Blanco – Colombia
8. Daniel Leonardo Sanchez Gamboa – Costa Rica
9. Eduardo Ferreira De Sousa – Brazil
10. Fufa Eticha Gafesa – Ethiopia
11. Giuliana Andrea De Salvo – Brazil
12. Jorge Emilio Estevez Portillo – Honduras
13. José Antonio Uechi Kohatsu – Peru
14. Julio Eduardo Alvarado Quintana – El Salvador
15. Luca De Marchi – Italy
16. Lucas Teixeira Franco de Moraes – Brazil
17. Luisa Maria Claros Trujillo – Colombia
18. Mattia Spessot – Italy
19. Patricia Ellen Modeiros De Azevedo Torres – Brazil
20. Peter Francis Smichenko – United States
21. Rasha Mahmood Awadh Obaid – Yemen
22. Ricardo José Chacon Bosch – Guatemala
23. Ruth del Socorro Morales Pabon – Colombia
24. Sheila Sagina Agida – Kenya
25. Vanessa De Figueiredo Ferreira – Brazil
26. Vilma Azucena Bautista David – Honduras
27. Vitor Stella – Brazil

The nineth edition of the Master is composed of 20 students from 14 countries – Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, India, Uganda and Venezuela – confirming its international position:

1. Dario Xavier Valarezo Flores – Ecuador
2. Jose Luis Guerra Morales – Honduras
3. Fabricio Enrique Coronel Pilco – Ecuador
4. Gabriela Alejandra Correa Rojas – Ecuador
5. Eduardo Rafael Matos Santiago – Venezuela
6. Jingbo Deng – China
7. Dhruv Hitsh Dattani – India
8. Roberto Andres Moreira Lopez – El Salvador
9. Ankita Subbaiah Muccatira – India
10. Raquel Vilela De Mata Miranda – Brazil
11. Hanna Elina Talvioja – Finland
12. Addisu Dulacha Gobana – Ethiopia
13. Nakke Shadiah Wabusimba – Uganda
14. Daniel Eduardo Molina Toro – Colombia
15. Tatiana Larissa Suazo Lara – Honduras
16. Lourdes María Benavente Mejía – Guatemala
17. Alessandra Marino – Italy
18. Pedro Jaime De Matheu Quesada – Costa Rica
29. Carlotta Sachs – Italy
20. Diego Nata – Italy

We present the 26 students from 16 countries – Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, Taiwan, Tanzania and Uganda – who make up the Class of 2020.

1. Aida Raquel Carmagnola Duarte – Paraguay
2. Angie Gabriela Rubi Landaverde – Honduras
3. Christian Christopher Sakalani – Tanzania
4. Denise Ivette Bustamante Adum – Ecuador
5. Hiwot Girma Hora – Ethiopia
6. Ivana Del Socorro Rivera Sandoval – Nicaragua
7. Judith Engena – Uganda
8. Kathia Melissa Lopez Rosa – Nicaragua
9. Lucicleia Souza Romano – Brazil
10. Maria Fernanda Castillo Muñoz – Guatemala
11. Maria Monserrat Corzo Guzman – Guatemala
12. Mayra Johana Heredia Guzman – Ecuador
13. Nanaiah Ganapathi Kodira – India
14. Norlan Eliezer Altamirano Granados – Nicaragua
15. Oscar Guillermo Chavez Jaquez – Mexico
16. Ramon Eduardo Villa Garcia – Colombia
17. Ronald Omar Pivaral Cruz – Guatemala
18. Santiago Cadavid Plitt – Colombia
19. Sara Lucia Agredo Mosquera – Colombia
20. Wan-Yu Yeh – Taiwan
21. Leah Magdalene Theoharidis – United States
22. Nicol Belci – Italy
23. Alessia Zampollo Sguazzero – Italy
24. Emanuele de Vonderweid – Italy
25. Abera Deme Ibsa – Ethiopia
26. Saulo Zamora Tassara – Peru

We present the 23 students from 16 countries – Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mozambique, Nicaragua, the United States, Ukraine and Uganda – who make up the Class of 2022.

1. Alessio Bernardon – Italy
2. Alfred Kahihi Bwambale – Uganda
3. Alisson Lander De Oliveira Carvalho Ribeiro – Brazil
4. Carolina Isabel Zamora – United States
5. Edmar Dercio Sergio Uamusse – Mozambique
6. Efthymia Karozou – Greece
7. Elisa Criscione – Italy
8. Erick Rodolfo Calix Zelaya – Honduras
9. Fernanda Sara De Souza – Brazil
10. Hortensia Solis Aguero – Costa Rica
11. Ivo Asturias Méndez – Guatemala
12. Jesús Gerardo Recinos Sagastume – Guatemala
13. Leslie Nanne Lippmann – Guatemala
14. Maria Paula Pinzon Aguirre – Colombia
15. Polina Shaganenko – Ukraine
16. Sara Isabel Corrales Rivas – Nicaragua
17. Shobhit Agrawal – India
18. Susanna Namuli – Uganda
19. Teresia Wangeci Kariuki – Kenya
20. Víctor Hugo Arana Espinoza – Nicaragua
21. Vincentius Stevian Yudhistira – Indonesia
22. Wolde Tagese Weilamo – Ethiopia
23. Wuilmer Roberto Urbina Valle – Honduras

We present the 19 students from 15 countries – Brazil, Colombia, China, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Rwanda, the United States, Tanzania and Uganda – who make up the Class of 2023:

1. Alejandra Bastidas Ortiz – Colombia
2. Anna Marie Gibeau – Stati Uniti
3. Brenda Kamara Kemigisha Mangeni – Uganda
4. Carlos Enrique Sierra Faraj – Honduras
5. Cristhian Ruiz – Honduras
6. Dayanna Karolina Pérez Romero – Ecuador
7. Dulce Iluvina Romero García – Guatemala
8. Elena Beltrame – Italia
9. Favio Wellinton Legarda Solano – Colombia
10. Geovanny Martin Aguilar Lopez – Nicaragua
11. Jinru Liu – Cina
12. Joel Arusha – Rwanda
13. José Andrés Enamorado Madrid – Honduras
14. Karen Pereira Nery – Brasile
15. Neelema Rana George – India
16. Petro Johnson Shalua – Tanzania
17. Rishina Mariam Kuruvilla – India
18. Shintia Firdaus – Indonesia
19. Tercio Felisberto Horacio – Mozambico

We present the 23 students from 18 countries – Brazil,Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Panama,  Rwanda, the United States, Tanzania, Togo and Vietnam – who make up the Class of 2024:

1. Aiyappa Ajjincanda Cariappa – India
2. Alis Garcia – USA
3. Amanda Carvalho Tempesta – Brazil
4. Anna Rachael Lacina-Taylor – USA
5. Bienfait Bahati Buraye – Congo
6. Christian André Sempé – Guatemala
7. Christophe Rugira – Rwanda
8. Ermias Melaku Addis – Ethiopia
9. Florencia Virginia Delgado Peralta – Panama
10. Francela Fernández Vargas – Costa Rica
11. Francis Dayne Haryono – Indonesia
12. Gabriela Schaps – USA
13. Helena Sanchez Amrhein – Costa Rica
14. Hodabalo Pereki – Togo
15. Jimena De Gasperin Mora – Mexico
16. Lina Maria Granados Uribe – Colombia
17. Martina Degano – Italia
18. Mateus Castelani Freua – Brazil
19. Michael Tiemo Nyoni – Tanzania
20. Miguel Hoyos Uribe – Colombia
21. Orietta Lucia Alvarenga Pinto – Honduras
22. Philote Mukiza – Rwanda
23. Shaimin Katúscia Gany Vieira – Mozambique
24. Tung Nguyen – Vietnam