WHERE TO NOW FOR HORTICULTURAL HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA?

Over the last decade enrolments in undergraduate horticultural programs across Australia have declined.
This is despite increasing participation in higher education (HE) and significant growth in the employment and value of horticultural industries.
This decline has been caused in part, by structural changes to the Australian HE system and institutional changes to faculties, departments, schools and campuses that have in turn disadvantaged applied science courses, such as horticulture.
The decline can also be explained more broadly by perceptions about the content and outcomes of land management based courses.
This paper examines and discusses these issues and asks the question – “Where to now for horticultural higher education in Australia?” We use the recent history of the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne as a case study to examine how these factors have led to changes in horticultural education over the decade since 1997.

V International Symposium on Horticultural Research, Training and Extension

J. Rayner, P. McSweeney, K. Raynor, D.E. Aldous

environmental horticulture, undergraduate horticulture, Australian horticulture, education and training

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.832.24