2nd regional coordination meeting on national level in Russia [21.07.16]
The second regional coordination meeting on national level in Russia took place at the Buryat State Academy of Agriculture named after V.R.Philippov (Ulan-Ude) on the 4-6th of July
The participants are members of the local working groups from the pilot universities elaborating the new master program SARUD, or Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (Omsk State Agrarian University named after P.A. Stolypin, Michurinsk State Agrarian University, Novosibirsk State Agrarian University and Buryat State Academy of Agriculture named after V.R.Philippov), as well as the coordinating institution, the University of Hohenheim (Germany) represented by the scientific project leader Prof. Dr. Martin Dieterich and the project manager Anna Voitenko. Apart from the academic institutions, the representatives of the travel agency JASSO TOUR and the People’s Khural of the Republic of Buryatia also attended the meeting. The latter had prepared a report on the problems and prospects of sustainable agricultural and rural development in the Buryat region.
The universities were due to present the developed curricula of the study programs on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development for majors «Economics», «Agronomy» and “Public and municipal administration”. Presentations were followed by fruitful discussions on the contents and composition of the modules in the curriculum. All agreed to introduce the compulsory component on the basics of sustainability concept, rural development, ecology, economics, social sciences and agriculture. Dependently on the distinguishing features of the pilot regions involved, study offer will vary at different HEIs.
Report on the work with stakeholders was also on the agenda of the meeting. JASSO TOUR and the People’s Khural of the Republic of Buryatia, among others, are being considered as non-academic partners in the frames of the project, have contributed to the discussions by sharing their experience and viewpoints regarding the content and requirements for the future master program. Later on the participants discussed proposals on scientific consultants-developers of the respected modules, including their competences, experience in research projects implementation and own practical experience. It was decided to establish inter-institutional working groups responsible for elaboration of particular modules. This will allow to broaden the approaches to elaboration of new modules and to involve a wider range of competences from all HEIs and regions participating into the project. Although the practical orientation of the curriculum has been agreed to be a topic for the next meeting in autumn 2016, representative from Novosibirsk State Agricultural University Dr. Andrey Shindelov has already addressed partners with the issue of internships for Master students, their structure, location and main requirements to be considered when elaborating new master course.
The working meeting finished with a visit to a family farm and an excursion to the ethno complex “Steppe Nomads”, where the SARUD partners could learn about Buryat region customs and traditions, and experience examples of rural and agricultural tourism development in the region.
