Transforming Agricultural Education for a Changing World

During the next ten years, colleges of agriculture will be challenged to transform their role in higher education and their relationship to the evolving global food and agricultural enterprise. If successful, agriculture colleges will emerge as an important venue for scholars and stakeholders to address some of the most complex and urgent problems facing society. Such a transformation could reestablish and sustain the historical position of the college of agriculture as a cornerstone institution in academe, but for that to occur, a rapid and concerted effort by our higher education system is needed to shape their academic focus around the reality of issues that define the world's systems of food and agriculture and to refashion the way in which they foster knowledge of those complex systems in their students. Although there is no single approach to transforming agricultural education, a commitment to change is imperative. Table of Contents Front Matter Summary 1 Motivating Change 2 The Context for Change 3 Improving the Learning Experience 4 Breaking Down Silos in the University 5 Extending Beyond the University: External Partnerships to Effect Change 6 A Call for Change References Appendixes Appendix A: Statement of Task Appendix B: Leadership Summit Information Appendix C: Shifts in the Production and Employment of Baccalaureate Degree Graduates from United States Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 1990-2005 Appendix D: Rethinking Undergraduate Science Education: Concepts and Practicalities - A Traditional Curriculum in a Changed World Appendix E: Questions to Guide the Review of Undergraduate Food and Agriculture Programs Appendix F: Committee and Staff Biographies