Education and Training to Support Sustainable Management of Australia's Pastoral Industries

Summary

This study has investigated education and training to support sustainable management of Australia's pastoral industries with reference to rangeland areas. The results indicate there is scope for the Meat Research Corporation (MRC) to initiate action to improve rangeland management education and training offerings to stakeholders. . Across all groups of stakeholders in the rangelands, educational and training offerings available at present are generally perceived:

to be unavailable on the specific topic of rangeland management; to have inadequate focus upon the practical aspects of rangeland management; to inadequately integrate the production and ecological aspects of rangeland management;

and to be somewhat 'out of touch' with the educational and training needs of stakeholders in the rangelands.

There was general agreement by rangeland stakeholders that there is a need to improve education and training offerings for a wide range of groups associated with the rangelands. Only a minority of those contacted expressed an opinion that current education and training offerings relevant to rangeland management were adequate, or believed there is no need to further develop or improve education and training in this area.

The above mentioned views were elicited from stakeholders in the rangelands as a result of undertaking a phone/fax survey and from proceedings of a number of discussion groups. The types of stakeholders involved within these consultations included: pastoralists, research and ex1ension personnel, national park personnel and other public land managers, service providers to persons in the rangelands (for example bankers, rural merchandisers), Aboriginal land managers, and policy persons. A summary of education and training offerings relevant to rangeland management was compiled. It was evident there are no courses currently available that focus specifically upon rangeland management, although there are several agricultural production and natural resource management courses available that give some attention to rangeland management. A small number of courses were identified as containing a number of elective subjects specific to rangeland management or the option to specialise in this area with a group of subjects.

The courses identified with a particular focus on rangeland management include the Bachelor of Natural Resources offered by the University of New England and the proposed Bachelof of Applied Science (Crops and Rangeland) to be offered in 1998 by the University of Queensland, Gatton College. Subjects specific to rangeland management are available through the TAFE system; two elective subjects are currently available within a Rural Business Management certificate or undergraduate diploma. These two subjects attempt to integrate the production and ecological aspects of rangeland management. Stakeholders in the rangeland perceived there was a need to provide education and training of specific relevance to the rangelands in a variety of forms, such as short courses and degrees.

Flexibility in education and training offerings was viewed as important in terms of time to complete the course, location of the course, method of presentation and delivery, and method of assessment. There were seen to be a wide range of needs due mainly to the different education levels and levels of understanding of existing and prospective rangeland managers. Distance education options through traditional correspondence or technologies such as the internet were perceived to be important to stakeholders in rural and remote areas.