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Publication Date
1981
Description
A major contribution of U.S. AID to developing countries has been to support the education of host-country nationals. This form of assistance has not been without its problems, as both AID and the universities themselves have been less than totally effective in meeting the challenge of providing an education that best serves the student and the home country. In most developing countries, the B.S. degree serves as an adequate scientific foundation for staffing agricultural programs. This is not to argue against higher levels of education but to state that faster progress could be made by spreading the educational efforts among more individuals at a training level better suited to the needs of the country. There is evidence that U.S. institutions have been guilty of prolonging the educational experiences of third-world students beyond their need. When students from less-developed countries (LDCs) pursue graduate degrees, the U.S. institutions providing the education and the organization sponsoring the student should find a way for the required thesis or dissertation research to be done in the home country. At the B.S. level, foreign nationals being educated in U.S. universities should not be subjected solely to curricula developed for U.S. students and U.S. conditions, as is now predominantly the case. It is necessary to relate the U.S. technology, principles, and concepts of agriculture and natural-resource management to the cultural and political realities of the LDC. Special courses must be developed to do this, and U.S. faculty must have the experience and willingness to develop and teach those courses properly. This paper proposes some possibilities for undergraduate and graduate curricula in the U.S.A. to furnish more meaningful education for international students.
Citation
Dwyer, D D., "Innovations in Academic Curricula for International Education" (1981). IGC Proceedings (1977-2023). 10.
(URL: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1981/section13/10)
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Innovations in Academic Curricula for International Education
A major contribution of U.S. AID to developing countries has been to support the education of host-country nationals. This form of assistance has not been without its problems, as both AID and the universities themselves have been less than totally effective in meeting the challenge of providing an education that best serves the student and the home country. In most developing countries, the B.S. degree serves as an adequate scientific foundation for staffing agricultural programs. This is not to argue against higher levels of education but to state that faster progress could be made by spreading the educational efforts among more individuals at a training level better suited to the needs of the country. There is evidence that U.S. institutions have been guilty of prolonging the educational experiences of third-world students beyond their need. When students from less-developed countries (LDCs) pursue graduate degrees, the U.S. institutions providing the education and the organization sponsoring the student should find a way for the required thesis or dissertation research to be done in the home country. At the B.S. level, foreign nationals being educated in U.S. universities should not be subjected solely to curricula developed for U.S. students and U.S. conditions, as is now predominantly the case. It is necessary to relate the U.S. technology, principles, and concepts of agriculture and natural-resource management to the cultural and political realities of the LDC. Special courses must be developed to do this, and U.S. faculty must have the experience and willingness to develop and teach those courses properly. This paper proposes some possibilities for undergraduate and graduate curricula in the U.S.A. to furnish more meaningful education for international students.
