Debate
Training: Home or away?
Is overseas study necessary or even desirable for post-graduate agricultural students? Distance learning, supported by Internet-based information and communication is now widely available. Is this a more appropriate option to months or years in an environment far removed from that to which the student will eventually return? What is best for the student, for academic institutions and agricultural research in developed and developing countries and, most importantly, what is best for the future of agricultural development and food security?
Universities around the world require students to undertake research projects as part of their core activities, especially in the final year(s) of their study programme. . . . I wonder if the majority of the findings of research projects are actually implemented, or whether they are simply added to the collection on the shelf because the work is done, the student has completed the thesis requirement and has graduated. . . . I suspect we really need to do a few things. First, get our research students to do topics that are practical and relevant to either his own country or to the region as a whole. Second, consider the practicality of the research. Is it really practical, technically and financially. . . . At the end of the day, what we should be requiring of research projects is their practicality and the perceived benefits when the results are implemented. After all, what is the point of doing a research undertaking when its expected results do not have much use in addressing a problem of need?
The views of Mr Nga Mataio, Chairman of IRETA's Regional Board of Management. Taken from the newsletter of IRETA (Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture) Western Samoa.
"The sad thing is, often the ones who've been to the most sophisticated universities, are the ones who are least able to respond to the problems in their own country. It's expensive to send a student to Britain. While they're there, they're not doing very much for their own country. The research now - we've got to solve problems. And that we do with the farmers. So we don't need the sophisticated laboratory. The Internet means we can reach the best scientists so we don't have to depend only on one university, we can go out and pick the very best people and have them communicating and advising the students through the information highway."
Reg Preston. (BBC World Service, The Farming World)
"I simply do not see any evidence that those students going away primarily for post graduate training are then least often able to respond to their own nation's problems. However, to solve the sorts of practical problems to which Reg Preston quite rightly alludes, these practical problems need to be approached on the basis of a sound scientific understanding in order to make a more sound contribution, a more penetrating contribution and a more sustainable, rather than a superficial, contribution than I would believe would be the case otherwise".
Professor Rod Summerfield, Head of the Department of Agriculture, University of Reading. (BBC World Service. The Farming World)
"During my study at the university of Reading, I learn from laboratory technicians and postgraduate student by being in daily contact with such people. Students can enrich their knowledge. They come from many countries. They have studied for longer than I have and so that's of interest to me. I learn as much from the other students as from the professors and lecturers."
Dr Tran-Dong Hong, University of Reading. (BBC World Service. The Farming World)
"Let's look at the typical postgraduate student that arrives in Reading. They're usually mid-career people with a whole raft and wealth of practical experience. They know their farming systems in their regions if not in their whole countries very well indeed. They need training in the scientific method. Otherwise they can spend a whole career doing parochial, site specific trials, rather than experiment, which stand no chance of having any impact whatsoever - because they've asked the wrong question. The variable they are interested in is confounded with several other variables and basically it is a waste of precious national resource and even international donor money."
David Betts, Director of the University of Reading's International Office. (BBC World Service. The Farming World)
"An academic today is not just training the technologists who are going to go out into the world in 1999 but one of our responsibilities is to be training the people who are going be the leaders of the industry in the year 2020. And I think in order for people to be able to handle those sorts of problems, they need to have experience far outside their own borders."
Professor Rod Summerfield, Head of the Department of Agriculture, Reading University. (BBC World Service. The Farming World)
"Our students, I think, are looking for several different things. The most obvious one is that they are looking to upgrade their qualifications. They are also looking for new ideas, new ways in which they can work. Many of them are working in extremely difficult conditions in extension programmes and in rural development programmes in general and they are often looking for answers to the problems that they are facing. . . .
I think one of the good reasons for having courses in another country is the opportunity to meet with other students. There are a lot of arguments from having in-country courses nowadays, but that breadth of experience you can't get any other way. We do a lot of small group work. We do a lot of work in which students are invited to put their experience into the learning arena. And so people do learn enormously from each other. They begin to see that there are other solutions."
Pat Norrish, Lecturer in Communication, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Department, University of Reading.
"The necessity of postgraduate training in agriculture will depend, among many other factors, on the place and type of work. For instance, while it is vital to have a post-graduate qualification to work at a University or research institute, it may not be necessary for extension officers directly dealing with farmers. We all know that overseas study is very costly. Studying in the UK, for example will cost not less than £sterling 8000 (tuition) and about £sterling 5000 (maintainance), annully. With a similar amount, we can train three to four postgraduate students in our local University in Kenya.
Students travel abroad for postgraduate studies, for various reasons; the course is not offered locally, perception of better quality abroad. My opinion is that if the course is offered locally, and there are qualified supervisors, then the students should be encouraged to study locally. However, if the course is offered only in an overseas university, then a split programme can be adopted. Such programmes are very useful in various ways. First, they are cheaper, they allow students to do projects which are viable and related to future work. They also allow students to continue with other family matters. Most postgraduate, especially Ph.D, students from Africa, will have families). Often students who study abroad do projects which are not related to the conditions in their home country, with a few exeptions, of course. Continuating such studies, having returned home, is almost impossible due to lack of facilities and supervision. I'm one of those who experienced a split programme at Aberdeen University. My project was funded by ILRI and NRI on the use of multipurpose tree and crop by-products as livestock feed. The work was conducted at Kenya Agriculture Research Institute centre (Mtwapa). During my studies I was able to continue with my work, and of course remain near to my family. I know a number of people who have been on split programme and they have done well in terms of time and quality, and at a less cost. For agricultural students, studying in an environment using locally available facilities is important for sustainability of the projects. It also exposes the students to the clients (the farmers) who can be included in the project in one way or another. This way, everyone contributes in identifying the constraints in agriculture to achieving the objectives of food security and poverty alleviation."
Dr. S. A. Abdulrazak, Postdoc. Fellow, Presently Shimane University (Senior Lecturer, Egerton
University, Kenya).
abdul@life.shimane-u.ac.jp
