Educating Australian foresters for the 21st century

Vanclay, Jerome K.

doi:10.1505/ifor.9.4.884

Cited by 23 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(2 reference statements)

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“…Similarly, the need for improving the competencies related to communication skills among foresters have been indicated in places as diverse as Europe and Australia (e.g. Arevalo 2010, Vanclay 2007. Limited field exposure appears to be related to shortages in human and material resources and therefore affecting institutions mainly in the developing world.…”

Section: Other Project Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing forestry curricula: experiences from a KenyanFinnish project

2014

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Section: Other Project Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing forestry curricula: experiences from a KenyanFinnish project

2014

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“…A common need seen by both universities and employers relates to the existing gap in some generic skills, mainly the ability to communicate with specialists and non-specialists, and the planning/organising ability. Deficiencies in the ability to communicate by forestry graduates have been previously reported (Ball 2003, Forest Technology Platform 2005, Vanclay 2007). Furthermore, some of the results coincided with those of Garcia-Aracil and Van der Velden (2008) from a large-scale European graduate survey across disciplines: a large gap was found in planning/organising ability and in negotiation skills, and almost no gap in broad knowledge of the subject and in the ability to learn.…”

Section: Forestry Competencies and The Job Market: The Need For Contimentioning

confidence: 94%

International perceptions of university forestry education – an analysis of student motivation, competencies, and curricula

Arévalo¹

2011

Diss. For.

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The field of forestry is currently facing numerous challenges. These include new demands from people and organisations with regard to governance and services from forests, ecological and environmental functions, and the global competition and market pressure over forests and its products. In order to provide students with the knowledge, abilities and attitudes required in the profession, universities around the world need to consider the challenges faced by the sector as well as the latest technological and pedagogical innovations. Consequently, a great number of higher forestry education institutions have reformed their programmes or at least initiated their reform processes especially within the last decade. In this context, this thesis investigated the perceptions of students, universities and employers on various aspects of national forestry education and the forestry profession from an international perspective. Particularly, the issues of student motivation, subjectspecific and generic competencies, curricula, and employment prospects were examined. A mixed methods strategy was used, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches. The case studies of three Bachelor's degree programmes in China, Brazil and Finland, and one international Master's programme, were selected, examining the perceptions of altogether 604 students. This was coupled with a pan-European survey of forestry universities and employers and an extensive literature survey.The study provides numerous findings with regard to the similarities and differences in perceptions that universities, employers and students -across study years and countrieshave on forestry education. Among the cross-national similarities, forestry students were highly interested in field studies and the areas of environmental protection and climate change, with a general preference for working after graduation in the area of management of public forests. Across study years, students from later study years gave a higher importance to communication skills in relation to students from earlier years; conversely, the importance given to achieving their best decreased along the years of the degree, signalling certain demotivation. Differences across countries were also found, such as the higher value given by Chinese respondents to autonomy skills, as compared with Finnish students who emphasised communicative skills, and to Brazilians who highlighted instrumental skills. In Europe, both universities and employers saw important gaps between the needs of the job market and the education provided at the universities, especially with regard to environmental services, carbon sequestration, and the ability to communicate. Employers saw a greater gap in relation to universities in areas such as bioenergy, forest products trade and marketing, economics and governance. Based on these and other findings, a clear need for improving current university forestry education is seen. A set of concrete recommendations for the reflection of those involved in the development of fore...

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“…This means that students have a great choice in how to learn -ranging from weekly face-to-face classes to online ondemand with intensive workshops -satisfying diverse student learning styles. Courses are informed by regular internal and external reviews intended to refresh offerings and maintain relevance (Vanclay 2007, Ewan 2009). When appropriate, problem-based learning is favoured (Boyd 2011), and students are assisted to publish findings (e.g., Aenishaenslin et al 2007.…”

Section: Teaching Forestry At Scumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Employer and graduate surveys consistently reveal the need for diverse skills, especially with regard to communication (Vanclay 2007, Jacobsen et al 2008. Thus oral presentation and writing skills are emphasised within SCU's degrees, and students are encouraged to publish research arising from honours (e.g., Pelletier et al 2008), graduate diploma (e.g., Thinley et al 2005) and doctoral programs (Angel et al 2008, Bristow et al 2006, Grant et al 2010, Kariuki et al 2006a,b, Leys and Vanclay 2011a.…”

Section: Teaching Forestry At Scumentioning

confidence: 99%

Forestry at Southern Cross University: fifteen years in review

et al. 2011

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SUMMARYAfter 15 years, it is timely to review the 4-year bachelor degree in forestry offered by Southern Cross University (SCU), now the only remaining such 4-year degree in Australia. The SCU program is characterised by innovative teaching, a strong fieldwork component, emphasis on research, and strong links with local interest groups (both environmental and industrial). The progressive introduction of two-site delivery and on-line lectures has maintained the viability of the course despite modest student demand.

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Educating Australian foresters for the 21st century

Cited by 23 publications

References 9 publications

Developing forestry curricula: experiences from a KenyanFinnish project

Developing forestry curricula: experiences from a KenyanFinnish project

International perceptions of university forestry education – an analysis of student motivation, competencies, and curricula

Forestry at Southern Cross University: fifteen years in review

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