Detailed Notes:  2.4 -- Curriculum/Education

Attendees:
Chris Pal (CP)
Carl Eicher (CE)
L. Van Crowder (LC)
Suresh Babu (SB)
Margaret Ngwira (MN)
Althula Perera (AP)
Baseema Banoo (BB)
E.A. Heinrichs (EH)
Willis Kosura (W)
Margaret Kboma (MK)
Mary Ochs (MO)
Dwight Allen (DA)
Lakshmi Murthy (LM)
Roy Steiner (RS)
Gracian Chimwaza (GC)

CE -- Intro to session -- 55 min discussion, 5 min synthesis; 

EH -- Are we talking about a particular level of education?

WK -- Curriculum depends on subject matter.  My experience has been in identifying the type of content in the courses that vary in specialty.  In our program, we have four fields of specialty -- all of which deal with agriculture, in general.  To achieve relevance, we have to be considerate of the farmers.  These considerations must deal with specific difficulties and interest groups.  In terms of quality, we have to visit places to identify best practices to achieve quality curriculum.  In terms of demand-driven-ness, we hav to get info from farmers themselves.  Our program covers eastern and central africa, 16 universities in 12 countries.  These courses were derived from discourses with the various stakeholders.  Talking to potential employers directs curriculum formation to identify desirable qualifications.  These skills are beyond production.  The business involves value-change.  Farmers demand graduates who can add value to what they are able to produce.  This is the third year of program.  The first cadre of students will graduate in Oct. 2007.  

LC -- Then, you'll be able to tell whether or not the program is helpful.  

WK -- Goal is to develop students who can better formulate policy that better serve all stakeholders.

CE -- This is the most innovative curriculum programs in Africa.  

MN -- In Southern Africa, there has been a recent push for standardization and modularized skill sets.  This program seems very effective to those ends.

LC -- But it's hard to find qualified faculty for all sorts of reasons.  What's been your experience with that?

WK -- We have 16 participating countries, and accreditation requires a certain number of PhDs.  Only 6 of the 16 are accredited at present with the 10 functioning differently.  Common locations for teaching and recruiting operate for four months at a time for the purpose 

LC -- who's funding it?  Is there distance learning?

WK -- Rockefeller FNDTN.  We have some infrastructure problems that preclude distance learning.

CE -- This is the largest such program.  What happens if someone wants to open a similar program in another discipline?

WK -- We are collaborating with IFPRE to develop dist. learn., but for now it is not fully functional.  We do distance learning, but it's not dynamic.  Connectivity is a main limiting factor.

LC -- Does the program have a practical element?

WK -- It's a 2 year program, and after 1 yr, students begin to interact with real issues impacting their particular arfeas of focus.  Once students have submitted a draft, there is an opportunity for hands-on internship for a few months.

BB -- At what stage is the internship?

WK -- After the third semester.  We use our strategic partners to arrange this

MK -- There has been no core of faculty who can train effectively in this way.  Is this still the case?  I heard of a two-tiered program in Ghana where students earn their masters, become lecturers and get hands-on experience simultaneously.  This is an issue of sustainability

WK -- At the moment, it's just masters, but in the future, there will be a phd program.  Currently, there are retooling workshops for staff on the ground.  These re-teach desirable strategies to those staff on the ground.  Curriculum delivery is addressed in other workshops called instructors' workshops.  Additionally, there are staff devel. programs for staff who have been teaching at Masters to get phd instruction in other regions or overseas.  Field work, however, is still done in home countries.

EH -- we have a system of participatory IPM to try and involve all stakeholders.  Getting support requires this type of cooperation.  We do a participatory appraisal involving conversations with all stakeholders, looking at all problems in the field from farmers' perspective, looks at available facilities and resources -- human, technological, etc... It's called institutional building, tech transfer, tech devel, private organization involvement, etc.  From the US viewpoint, when you look at training scientists, it costs about 30 thous. per year.  Now, with the new program, some of the projects only have 100 thous. budg per year, so at Univ. of Nebraska, we're looking at ways to increase efficiency with respect to training.  We have 120 students in a striclty dist. learn masters program in entymology.  This boosts the dept. to the biggest in the college.  we're discussing increasing involvement in other countries.  We have students all over -- Iraq, on ships, all over the world -- most are US based. We do have sandwich programs.  It's important to narrow it down.  US perception is that overseas degrees aren't "the same" as domestic degrees, but the univ is now promoting int'l students.

RS -- How are you measuring success?  What are the costs of achieving that success?  What's the cost per student?  It gets to the point of sustainability.

MW -- all univ. are involved in dist. learning, but we have to learn from the collapse of virtual univ. model.  we have to learn lessons from that before we make any sweeping generalizations.

GC -- an 8-semester program exists with 4 in the field.  many such programs are funded by the govt and run by the M of Ag.  Faculty was a big issue.  The model of training students in the field is perceived as effective.  these students are seen as more desirable 

LC -- these types of programs are very important, because there's a gap there.  What's also important is developing programs for the retooling of extension officers.  How can you ensure that there's articulation between the levels?  Bach students in Tanzania were having trouble moving up to the next level of Higher Ed. because of their two-year degrees.

WK -- Measure of success rests with the extent to which curriculum graduates students who meet employees' lists of desirable skills.  The first cohort of students numbers 39.  Right now, the number is growing rapidly.  That means that the curriculum is likely working.  25000 dollars for two years training of one student.  This is highly competitive and desirable because students study at home.

EH -- how many students study abroad and never go home?  The way I look at it, there has to be demand from some level.  You have to assess whether or not you have the scientific capability in your country.

AP -- we have two programs in my university.  one is an undergraduate program in the dry zone.  students are sent there for six months and practice dry zone farming to familiarize themselves with the practices alongside one specific family.  The farmers also come back to the university to see university best practices.  students identify this six-month program as a major strength.  we also have the post-grad program with short-term training and an annual farmers' day during which farmers will be guests and univ. people will intro research in simple terms

CP -- How many students go back and work at farms after graduation?

AP -- about 60% come from farming background, but very few go back to farming afterwards.

LC -- ever think of tracer studies to figure out where students go?  Since it's employment-led, have you thought about seeking funding from private companies to ensure continued high-quality talent?  Is that a long-term strategy?  Is it working?

AP -- during the final semester of their program, they interact with private sector personnel.

MW -- I have a tracer study.

SB -- What are the information needs?  What levels of education do we need?  How do we blend formal and informal education that can help all types of learners?  How can we strengthen content of use global knowledge?  Faculty are there, but how can they become more dynamic?  How can we help them think newly about these new issues?  We need to think about numbers.  Are we thinking thousands or hundred per year?   Based on other models, we believe that we can build dist. learning atop extant programs, but we need to be cautious.  We also need to bring down cost to student drastically.  Sustainability is the final major issue.  How can the programs make money to sustain themselves?  We need to build in the business end of the programs.

DA -- In nearly all visited institutions, it was estimated that 80 - 90 percent of ag students leave the field.  One of the real challenges is to understand how to retool programs and make them market oriented so that the people they're training go into agric.  Another problem is that in the dist. ed programs try to immitate face to face methodology instead of using the strengths of the dist learning format.  Faculty is not bad; they're just irrelevant

MK -- We need to explore what has been working in programs that already exist.  From there, we can scale up.  How can extant models better inform future decisions?

CP -- We're not really talking about teaching the smallholder -- per se.  One of the ways they get info is from their peers and publications and the radio.  Investments in these types of mechanisms may be a more productive way of getting info across to the target pop.  Investing in high qual. info. seems a logical option.

GC -- there's no doubt that ed. plays major role for the smallholder.  it's likely that the smallholder will learn most from peers.  How do we get info to the smallholder so that they can make their own decisions, since they're getting no info from extension. We need to deal with filtering info so that it can be delivered to the smallholders.  The formally degreed people will not go back to the farms, in general.  For now, it is probably best to focus on smallholders.

WK -- in designing the curriculum, we have the smallholder in mind.  Our grads are aware of the smallholders' problems from the ground up.  Demand for formal education skills is showing up now.  In addition, in terms of quality of the program, there is an element of quality based on accessing information from other institutions like Cornell.  Thanks to these innovations, the education is world-class.

LC -- we're looking beyond the curriculum to the functions of the university.  We all know that student learning has to do with how well-connected the faculty is to outreach, extension, etc.  That's how the university can be relevant to the smallholder.  Community engagement is the best way for unviersities to serve the smallholder.  That's how book learning becomes useful.

CP -- One of the best books I ever read was a high-end document from Cornell.  Univ. pubs are very powerful, even if they have to be reframed for smallholders.

CE -- in Sri Lanka, agribusiness is weak.  These skills are crucial for market development.  This destroyed the credibility

EH -- When we think of the flow of information, we need to identify the problem.  Where is the problem?  We need to pick a link in the chain where we might have an impact.  Where is the major problem?

MO -- You have 7 minutes.

WK -- extension service is the problem.  that's the big problem.

CE -- so, it's govt. policy.

LM -- we've launched a program for input dealers (businessmen).  one year course meeting weekly.  at the end of this, they get a diploma that's recognized by the state govt., and then they can instruct the farmers.  

MW -- there is rapidly improving connectivity.  the cost is quantifiable.  the cds are going to be a thing of the past.  connectivity is a thing that will be in place in the next year or so.

MK -- we need to connect curriculum to employer needs.

CE -- we need to consider the cost, the quality, etc., but it's important to learn from the experiences of those programs that have succeeded.  

DA -- Also, the programs of Sri Lanka that employ field work are worth noticing.