Postgraduate Education in Animal Breeding Management

Summary

In order to respond to a growing deficit of skilled workers for the animal industries, specifically in the area of genetic improvement programs for domestic animals, a postgraduate coursework Masters degree program was developed to train professionals in the animal industries to develop knowledge and skills in animal breeding genetics, relevant reproductive techniques and principles, biotechnologies, conducting research and leadership to address the direct needs of the animal industries. 
This program was developed by the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, in conjunction with Professor Julius Van der Werf, Professor of Quantitative Genetics and Animal Breeding, University of New England. Candidates who had experience in the animal industries were able to enrol either full- or part-time and graduate at Graduate Certificate level by completing 24 credit points of prescribed core units of study, or graduate at the Graduate Diploma level by completing 36 credit points of core and electives units, or graduate with a Masters level by completing 48 credit points of core, elective units and a six credit point research project. 
Meat and Livestock Australia provided scholarships to candidates, awarded on academic merit, to off-set the cost of the program tuition fees. The first student enrolments were in 2007.  Since that time the program has graduated six candidates from the Master in Animal Science (Animal Breeding Management), three candidates with a Graduate Diploma in Animal Science (Animal Breeding Management) and six candidates with a Graduate Certificate in Animal Science. 
There were four candidates completing the research units of study who we expect will graduate with a Masters degree in the near future.   There was an initial burst of enrolments in 2007 and 2008 but enrolment numbers have not been sustained. The lack of enrolments (below six per year) was the major threat to the sustainability of the program. The relevant faculty representatives met to discuss this issue and formulated a discussion paper on the future of this program that was sent by email to our MLA contacts on 21 November 2011 to which we received no further feedback. 
Unfortunately enrolments have steadily decreased from 2007 to 2011, to numbers that make it unsustainable to conduct the program. Furthermore, changes to the higher education sector require further changes to be made to the structure of the program, perhaps pricing the program beyond the current market demand. Accordingly, the future of the program is uncertain. However the Faculty planned to collect expressions of interest from potential candidates to consider running the program in 2016.