Abstract
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 language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Farming systems facing global challenges: Capacities and strategies : The 11th European IFSA Symposium, 1-4 April 2014, Berlin, Germany |
| Editors | Thomas Aenis, Andrea Knierim , Maja-Catrin Riecher, Rebecka Ridder, Heike Schobert, Holger Fischer |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Publisher | IFSA |
| Publication date | 2014 |
| Pages | 514-519 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |