Narrative Imagination and Social Change: Instructors in Agricultural Colleges in Ethiopia Address Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the world, making female students particularly vulnerable in its post-secondary institutions. Although there is extensive literature that describes the problem, mainly from the students' perspectives, what remains understudied is the role of instructors, their perception of the current issues, and what they imagine they can do to address campus-based SGBV, particularly in rural settings. In this study, we used the concept of narrative imagination to work with instructors in four Ethiopian agricultural colleges to explore how they understand the SGBV issues at their colleges and what they imagine their own role could include in efforts to combat these problems. Using qualitative narrative-based methods such as interviews and an interactive storyline development workshop, as well as cellphilming (cellphone + film) as a participatory visual method, the data were collected across several fieldwork phases. We consider how we might broaden this framework of narrative imagination to include the notion of art for social change.

For the Sake of Production—And the Animal, and Me. How Students at Danish Agricultural Colleges Perceive Animal Welfare

Farmers’ perceptions of animal welfare have been found to affect the way they treat their animals, and there is growing awareness of the range of ethical views today’s farmers take on animal welfare. The purpose of this study was to examine how perceptions of animal welfare develop among prospective farmers and farm workers in Denmark during their studies at agricultural colleges. We also examined the experiences of college teachers and their views on the inclusion of animal welfare in livestock courses. Drawing on individual interviews and focus group interviews at four Danish agricultural colleges, we used systematic text condensation to identify three major themes among the students: 1. The importance of balancing welfare and productivity, 2. Concerns about the animal itself, 3. Concerns relating to the students themselves. Our interviews with teachers revealed a growing awareness of the inclusion of animal welfare in Danish agricultural colleges, but also disagreements over the way animal welfare should be understood. We conclude that the education of future farmers in Danish agricultural colleges today embraces animal welfare but should leave more room in the future to introduce students to the issue of market-driven welfare and consumer interest in animal-friendly production.

Present day Agricultural Education Ecosystem and Assessment on Educational Aspirations of Farm Graduates

In the global ecosystem, swift changes are happening in the knowledge sphere. The present study aims to find out the aspirations of the agricultural graduates regarding their education and agriculture. The study was conducted in the three Agricultural Colleges of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) through open online survey. Well-structured questionnaire was prepared using ‘Google forms’, an online application and data was collected by publishing it online in KAU Student’s Community through ‘Facebook’. Among the sixty four respondents, all the respondents were B.Sc. Agriculture degree holders from KAU and vast majority of the respondents were girls. Majority of the respondents are having medium level of educational, agricultural aaspirations. More than three fifth of the respondents (67.19%) are most interested doing post-graduation in agricultural sciences after completing their graduation. Over one third of respondents (39.10%) were mostly interested to become innovative and progressive farmers, where as less than one-third of the respondents (29.7%) are most interested in starting agricultural subsidiary enterprises.

Factors affecting Industrial Attachment Programme: Measures of academic performance and efficiency in Zimbabwe: A Review

Assessment of the Industrial Attachment Programme was deemed incomplete without reviewing measures of academic performance, efficiency, and the factors that affect performance and efficiency. The factors forming the basis for this review were found to human and system oriented. Academic performance of students has to be measured using examinations, tests, assignments and exercises. Data Envelope Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analyst were the efficiency measures reviewed. Data Envelope Analysis was regarded appropriate for this study considering its ability to handle multiple inputs and outputs. Data Envelope Analysis estimates allocative, technical and economic efficiency which are key efficient measures. Some of the factors reviewed include financing, timing, evaluation and assessment methods of the programme. Linkage among students, tertiary education institutions, host organizations and various stake holders were other key factors. Courses covered before Industrial Attachment were noted as other key factors since the programme intends to marry theory learnt in the classroom with the practice. Industrial Attachment in Zimbabwe as with the Agricultural colleges and other institutions of tertiary education was also reviewed. The institutions use different approaches which will help much in the assessment of the programme. Measurement of performance and efficiency levels were found to be done with primary and secondary schools making reference to the academic side and not much was found to be done with agricultural colleges and the industrial attachment programme thereby forming the basis for this study. Colleges have to adopt models which improve performance and efficiency of the programme.