Responsiveness of graduate agriculture education curricula of selected HEIs in South East Asia to global challenges in agricultural and rural development

Nova A. Ramos

Date

6-2018

Abstract

This study focused on how graduate education curricula of selected HEls in agriculture in Southeast Asia respond to the global challenges in inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development as required under AEC 2025. Data from agricultural and rural development experts, faculty members, and university administrators were collected through interviews and emailed questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Secondary data such as curricular programs and other relevant HEI documents (e.g., strategic plans) were requested from university administrators to serve as reference in relation to the study's objectives.

Competencies assessed were grouped into the following categories: management and leadership; agricultural and rural development; research, monitoring, and evaluation; planning; climate change; and extension. Most of the existing and desired competencies for graduates of graduate agriculture education programs were also the identified existing and desired competencies for the respondents.

Most of the respondents agreed that graduate agriculture education programs are responsive in terms of the indicators of responsiveness under the four drivers of change.

Prospective employers of the HEls' graduates still consider academic performance record as the number one factor when recruiting professionals requiring advanced degrees in agriculture. In terms of HEI policies and systems that would help in effecting a responsive graduate agriculture education program, respondents emphasized on need for strong linkages/partnerships with public and private sectors, especially with HEIs in ASEAN offering double degree programs; curricular revisions, which should include values and ethics and combination of hard and soft skills, and based on international equivalency standards and feedback from alumni, employers, and other stakeholders; improved faculty development program to enhance the expertise of the faculty for instruction and enrich the faculty's research and extension activities; review the role of HEIs to make their roles broader, and crafting of a national policy that would mandate agriculture education as a national agenda and make it part of the basic education curriculum. New forms of ICT innovations for agriculture (e.g., expert systems, robotics, automation, etc.), which emerge should serve as both inputs to the curricula and delivery system of graduate agriculture education programs.

Document Type

Dissertation (Limited)

College

Graduate School (GS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Virginia R. Cardenas

Committee Member

Mimosa C. Ocampo, Josefina T. Dizon, Maria Ana T. Quimbo

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

En – AGROVOC descriptors

SOUTH EAST ASIA; AGRICULTURE; EDUCATION; CURRICULUM; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; RURAL DEVELOPMENT

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