AgriScale project redefining agriculture education in universities
From left: Losenge Turoop (Associate Professor- JKUAT), Dr Eija Laitinen (HAMK project coordinator), Victoria Ngumi (Vice Chancellor, JKUAT) and David Owiny (Chair, AgriScale Advisory Board) during the AgriScale conference at JKUAT on March 6, 2024.
What you need to know:
- At JKUAT, two masters programmes are being revised and one planned course has been replaced.
- At Egerton, five masters courses have been implemented and three bachelors courses are being developed.
Two leading Kenyan universities have been among top beneficiaries of a four-year project to modernise education of agriculture, which comes to an end this month.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and Egerton University were among nine institutions of higher learning that participated in the AgriScale project, an EU-funded project that has triggered the revision and accreditation of at least 30 curricula across the institutions.
AgriScale project triggered the accreditation of three curricula and revision of eight curricula at JKUAT and Egerton universities to meet industry needs.
The project has yet again opened the debate on the need for universities to implement courses that respond to industry needs
At the same time stakeholders in the industry are now calling for similar projects to shape learners’ knowledge acquisition and to provide practical solutions once they leave institutions of higher learning.
“The project aims to modernise the education of agriculture sector to meet the requirements of the working life. This will be achieved through enhancing competence-based curricula transformation through Problem-based Learning (PBL) methodologies and guiding teachers’ and staff’s competences and establishment of a learning ecosystem,” a report on the project states.
At JKUAT, two masters programmes are being revised and one planned course has been replaced.
At Egerton, five masters courses have been implemented and three bachelors courses are being developed, as a result of AgriScale.
During a three-day workshop to look back at successes of the project and chart a course for the future, project implementers, drawn from five countries in Africa and Europe, highlighted the need for more projects that inspire practical learning at institutions of higher learning, away from strict classroom learning that can sometimes fail the test of industry.
Losenge Turoop (left), Associate Professor, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) makes a presentation during the AgriScale conference at JKUAT in Juja on March 6, 2024.
“The Industry has been raising concerns that graduates are coming out half-baked. This project shows it’s possible to collaborate with the industry, to participate in problem solving,” said Prof David Owiny, who chaired AgriScale’s advisory board.
Other universities that participated were Gulu University and Bishop Stuart University from Uganda, University of Zambia and Mulungushi University from Zambia, HAMK Häme University of Applied Sciences and Aalto University from Finland, and Italy’s University of Pavia.
JKUAT’s Prof Losenge Turoop, who was among key implementers of the project, noted that it suited Kenya’s Competency-based Curriculum (CBC) that has been under implementation for several years now, which has shaped learning within Kenya’s lower levels of learning.
“AgriScale has proved that it is possible to nurture innovative minds that provide practical solutions to society. While 80 perc ent of learners indicated they would want to be employed at start of the project in 2020, the same number now indicates they would want to join the industry and create products,” Prof Turoop said.
JKUAT Vice-Chancellor, Victoria Wambui Ngumi, also noted that the project had been critical in the training of university staff, to inculcate problem-based learning.
“The project has facilitated revisions of our curricula, ensuring they remain dynamic and relevant to the evolving needs of our agricultural sector,” Prof Ngumi said.
“The participation of our staff in PBL training courses has enhanced the capabilities and further enriched our teaching methodologies. The integration of innovative approaches such as PBL, climate-smart agriculture and entrepreneurship into our curricula is a testament to our commitment to naturally and whole-rounded equip to tackle real life challenges,” she added.
The project was funded to the tune of 996,090 Euros (about Sh154 million at the current exchange rates) through the EU’s Erasmus+ and has been running since January 2020.
It involved the implementation of PBL models in the institutions of higher learning, whose outcome was the re-training of staff and lecturers, and further the revision and accreditation of 30 curricula, to make them fit to address industry challenges.
