MSc Agriculture students working with ex-campus stakeholders: first experiences and challenges

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

In the MSc program in Agriculture at University of Copenhagen we experience that both domestic and international students increasingly enter the programme without a contextual background of “agriculture” and with solid, but fragmented disciplinary and applied knowledge acquired in other courses both on BSc and MSc level. For many students this results in concerns whether their knowledge, skills and competencies are sufficient when confronted with reality in a job, i.e. in a lack of professional confidence. Therefore when revising the program we focused on competences in contextualizing general knowledge, in working systematically with complex problems and in reflection on the working process. In a mandatory 9 week full time course we team up with a partner enterprise (a large organic and conventional vegetable producer) with the aim of developing solutions and creating value in collaboration with stakeholders. Students are physically on the partner enterprise four times, altogether three weeks, and use Kolb’s learning cycle as a guiding reference through a structured work process. Deliverables from the course are a scientific group report, a group partner document, a group learning document and an individual learning document, all of which form the base for an individual oral exam.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFarming systems facing global challenges: Capacities and strategies : The 11th European IFSA Symposium, 1-4 April 2014, Berlin, Germany
EditorsThomas Aenis, Andrea Knierim , Maja-Catrin Riecher, Rebecka Ridder, Heike Schobert, Holger Fischer
Number of pages6
PublisherIFSA
Publication date2014
Pages514-519
Publication statusPublished - 2014

ID: 124557484