Responding to change: a new role for agricultural colleges in England and Wales

Abstract

Rural labour market changes are creating a demand for new and more flexible education and training opportunities. With the decline in agricultural production and the consequent reduction in demand for agricultural education, agricultural colleges in England and Wales are considering what their future role will be as providers of education and training for a diversified rural economy. To what extent and in what ways agricultural colleges are adapting to their new role and the factors which inhibit or facilitate institutional change was the subject of a research project undertaken in England and Wales between 1990 and 1992. The results show considerable variation between colleges in the way they are responding to change. This is reflected in the manner in which colleges perceive themselves, their mission and policy, how they perceive their constituency and the links they have with this constituency, as well as their ability to identify new training needs and provide relevant, flexible and more accessible learning opportunities to meet these needs.     

农村职业教育为“三农”服务的探讨

大力发展农村职业教育和培训,提高农村从业人员的职业技能水平和农村人口素质,增强农民的从业能力和市场意识,是缓解"三农"问题的重要措施。因此,要以科学的发展观为指导,完善有关政策制度,制订切实可行的县市职业教育发展规划,职业学校也要改革人才培养模式,实行多形式、多层次办学,更好地为"三农"服务。     

对农村劳动力进行职业技能培训和教育的几点思考

对农村劳动力缺乏职业技能培训和教育已影响到农业和农村经济的可持续性发展,并且,随着入世和国内经济产业结构的调整,农业和农村经济滞后于整个国民经济的矛盾日益突出,主要表现在农产品结构性过剩,市场化程度低,产品生产成本高,品质差以及污染等方面。政府职能部门的管理缺失,没有重视农村劳动力的职业技能培训和教育,对此也缺乏必要的资金投入;城乡经济固有的二元结构及薄弱的农村经济基础使其无力自我发展。对此,应强化政府在农村劳动力职业技能培训和教育的参与和管理,建立法制化的培训教育机制,构建多渠道的资金筹措机制和各类资本参与农村劳动力职业技能培训和教育的体系,引导教育资源向农村教育市场转移,整合农村劳动力职业技能培训和教育的优势资源,完善农村劳动力职业技能培训和教育模式,拓宽农村劳动力的职业技能培训和教育领域,加快使用技术和新技术培训,推进农业的产业化进程。     

新农村建设与农村创业培训模式构建

新农村建设中农村职业教育发展的关键在于加强农村创业培训，增强农村人口的创业能力，即对农村人口创业与致富的全程提供技术培训、实践指导和咨询服务。可以尝试构建由技术培训中心、农业科技研究推广中心、创业指导中心、市场信息中心、学校农场组成的创业培训模式，使各机构之间相互作用、紧密沟通，共同完成农村创业培训的主要功能。     

Rethinking higher agricultural education in a time of globalization and rural restructuring

Abstract

This paper explores the consequences of globalization and rapid rural restructuring for our institutions of higher agricultural learning. It is essential for these institutions to make fundamental choices. This process of priority setting should not only be based on a continuous survey of the labour market but also on what the institutions themselves consider as challenging areas of activities. The paper discusses a number of necessary changes in the areas of targets and contents, institutional management, professionalization and strategy of higher agricultural education.     

基于劳动力有效转移的农村职业教育发展策略

实施中原经济区建设战略凸显了职业教育尤其是农村职业教育在劳动力转移进程中的重要作用,大力发展农村职业教育,把我省人口压力逐渐转化为人力资源优势,是构建我国人力资源高地的必然选择。为此,要减少县域新的职业学校建设,把农村学历职业教育逐步推向城市;转变农村职业教育办学方向,开展中短期培训;建立区域技术培训中心,调整农村职业教育培训体系;适应市场经济需求,打造区域特色;加大投入,进一步完善农民工培训保障机制。     

适应形势 调整专业——社会主义新农村建设背景下辽宁省农业类高职专业设置与调整研究

我省社会主义新农村建设对农业高技能人才的需求广泛,需要农业高职院校为其培养大量的专门人才。依据我省农村发展现状、新农村建设战略规划和农村实际需求,提出以发展急需专业为主,加快专业结构调整,深化教学改革,建立与市场需求趋势相适应、结构合理、特色鲜明的农业类高职专业体系,提高农业高职教育为社会主义新农村建设的服务能力。     

探索农村职业技术教育之路

从人力资源的角度看“三农”问题的解决,我们寄希望于农村职业技术教育。理论上看,农村职业技术教育面临着前所未有的发展机遇,现实中却面临着种种困境。如何解决之,是我们努力探寻的重要现实问题。本文认为：根据我国目前农村经济与教育发展现状,应把创业培训作为农村职业技术教育的突破点。     

浅析民族地区职业教育的专业设置方向

职业教育的诸多要素中专业设置是核心,将直接影响培训和就业市场。目前民族地区职业教育的专业设置僵化,应把握专业设置的基本原理和原则,针对地区、行业经济和社会发展的需要,按照技术领域和职业岗位(群)的实际需要设置和调整专业,形成特色专业,以保证人才培养需求对路。     

城镇化视野下地市高职培养新型职业农民的定位研究

城镇化进程中新型工业化、信息化、农业现代化需要同步发展,而农业现代化的核心是职业农民的培养。地市高职院校培养职业农民主要存在学生就业观念、人才培养体系、教育教学模式等问题。借鉴地市高职院校服务农业现代化的典型经验,地市高职院校应从立足培养领军型职业农民,引领农村职教体系建设,面向农村培养职业农民进行定位。     

Towards the In‐College Evaluation of TEC Programmes

Abstract

The advent of the single European market has generated new demands for training and consultancy, and many further and higher education institutions have been anxious to exploit the commercial opportunities that have been created. In general, however, institutions have been more successful in providing training for the public sector than they have been for the private sector. A survey of FHE reveals the kinds of single‐market training that are on offer, and suggests that the training that is available needs to be more precisely geared to the requirements of business if colleges and universities are to make further inroads into the private sector. It is argued that much training is currently ‘supply led’ rather than ‘demand led’, and that institutions need to recognise important differences between information needs, skills needs and qualifications needs in the design of their single market provision. There are, however, examples of good practice, and institutions’ perceptions of their own needs in improving their European training are also discussed. The article concludes with some practical steps that institutions might consider in order to improve their single‐market training.

‘The training performance of industry and commerce in this country must be raised to meet the greater commitment and higher standards of other European countries.’

The words belong to the then Minister for Further and Higher Education, Robert Jackson, and were spoken in 1990 at the launch of the Department of Education and Science‐funded PICKUP Europe Unit ‐‐ an initiative designed to help further and higher education (FHE) to meet the training needs of industry and business in anticipation of the changes heralded by the single European market (SEM). Helping industry and business to respond to the challenges of the enlarged European market fitted well into the PICKUP scheme, which was intended to encourage FHE institutions to make their expertise and resources available for the purposes of updating and reskilling the labour force. It reflected the Government's desire to build a stronger link between education and wealth creation, and to foster competence‐based, as well as knowledge‐based, aspects of educational provision. The 282 measures associated with completion of the single market have made it increasingly important that workers at all levels are familiar with the new Europe in which they will produce goods and services, but just how effectively are further and higher education institutions facing up to their own challenge, and providing the ‘training for Europe’ that is considered so important in ensuring that British businesses exploit the opportunities of the single market?     

Planning Technical and Vocational Education and Training: the case of Namibia [1]

ABSTRACT

In 1991, shortly after independence, the government of Namibia established a Presidential Commission on Higher Education. The Commission's report contains almost 200 recommendations covering the whole field of post‐school education. The account presented here concentrates on technical and vocational education, access to higher education and inter‐relationships between the various levels of the educational system. Technical and vocational education at the time of independence was fragmented, inappropriate in a number of ways and not well supported. Fundamental change was necessary. Solutions need to be found around a set of baste principles, including: the need for a coherent system of linked qualifications, the importance of a national training policy enunciated by government, strategies which are responsive to employment requirements and which meet the needs of disadvantaged groups, special access routes for students who have missed out on educational opportunities, adequate provision for pre‐service and in‐service instructor training and teacher education.

     

A comparison between junior colleges and special training colleges in Japan

The history, function and role of two types of Japanese post-secondary institutions-junior colleges and special training colleges — are examined. The junior colleges which have hitherto been associated with the provision of academic, non-vocational education have begun to diversify into vocational courses in response to the increasingly popular vocational courses provided in the special training colleges (sennon gakko) developed since 1976 in the best of the formerkakushu gakko. The implications of this for the future development of post-secondary education in Japan are considered.     

The ‘new vocationalism’: Further education and local labour markets

Current policies aimed at promoting a ‘new vocationalism’ through changes in vocational training in further education are based upon a particular functional model of labour market behaviour, which sees the relationships between technical qualifications, training and recruitment to jobs as unproblematic. In fact, however, this model bears little relationship to the realities of actual labour markets, especially given the enormous diversity which exists between economic conditions in different localities. What this implies, therefore, is that there are considerable tensions between the imperatives of a national training strategy, promoted centrally by the Training Commission (and previously by the Manpower Services Commission), and its local implementation mainly by the local education authorities and their colleges of further education. In many local labour markets, far from promoting closer responsiveness to the needs of employers, current policy initiatives may actually be making it more difficult for the colleges to react to employers' demands. These general arguments are illustrated here by reference to a large‐scale empirical study which was specifically designed to investigate the inter‐relationships between the labour market behaviour of employers and the implementation of the ‘new vocationalism’ in further education.     

农村职业教育发展重心的演变

新中国成立以来,社会主义制度的建立和社会主义市场经济体制的转型,给农村社会带来了巨大变化。农村职业教育发展重心从解放初主要培养服务农村的农业人才转向改革开放后体系的多元化发展。随着社会主义新农村建设目标的确立,基于能力本位的农村职业教育不断强化服务“三农”功能。     

Production and Beyond: A Defining Moment for Public Sector Extension

Abstract

Two imperatives form the basis of the present paper. The first is the market-driven imperative, vital to production and value-chain development. The second is the knowledge imperative, central to the advancement of human capacity and institutional development. In view of these two imperatives, this paper argues for overhaul in extension toward a market orientation and for greater public investment in human resource development for modernizing the agricultural extension workforce. Part one of the paper reviews the rationale for market-driven extension and compares two key market-driven strategies. Part two proposes changes and new investment in post-secondary agricultural education and training, and calls for the establishment of a network of post-secondary agricultural education and training institutions. A post-secondary educational network is seen as essential to better prepare the agricultural extension workforce to face challenges in production and marketing and beyond with respect to alternative programs such as agriculturally related urban, environmental, energy, and rural development priorities.     

高职院校实行产学研结合的途径

产学研结合是高职院校培养人才的重要途径.其主要做法包括:以就业为导向,成立专业管理委员会;实行校内实践基地教学、科研、生产、培训"四位一体"的人才培养模式;实施"双证书"教育,搭建校企连接的桥梁;建立校外实习基地,密切与用人单位的联系.     

从企业需求探讨高职文秘教育改革

企业是高职文秘专业毕业生的主要就业方向,高职文秘教育改革应以企业需求为方向标。现代企业对秘书工作逐渐要求职业化,且需要复合型的秘书人才。当前的高职院校因为师资力量不足、课程设置不科学和实践教学落后等原因,难以培养出符合市场需要的秘书人才。高职文秘教育应在调整人才培养目标、加强教师队伍建设、优化课程设置、改进实践技能训练的同时,重视情商教育,培养符合企业需求的复合型秘书人才。     

高职新增汉语国际教育专业必要性探析

通过分析当前汉语国际教育人才需求与人才培养现状,从汉语国际教育人才分不同层次角度出发,认为高校专业人才培养也应分不同层次以满足社会需求。高职院校应当发挥自身优势,培养市场需要的汉语国际教育初级人才。基于初级汉语国际教育人才培养与高职教育属性高度契合的分析,构建了初级汉语国际教育人才包括培养目标、课程设置、教学模式的高职初级汉语国际教育人才培养框架。     

Competency Standards – a Help or a Hindrance? An Australian Perspective

Abstract

The mere existence of competency standards for an occupation is not, in itself, enough to tell us whether they will be a help or a hindrance for education and training providers. Instead, that will depend on what sort of competency standards they are and how they are being used by the education and training providers. This paper will describe, firstly, the types of competency standards that would be a hindrance for vocational education and training providers and those that would be a help. Secondly, assuming that competency standards of the helpful type are available, the paper will outline the ways of using them that would still be detrimental to vocational education and training, and contrast this with ways of using them so as to improve the provision of vocational education and training. As against the widely held belief that competency standards require a totally new approach to vocational education and training, this paper argues that this is true only of the type of competency standards that are a hindrance. The type of competency standards that are helpful to vocational education and training provide a powerful means of improving what has always been best practice in the design, delivery and assessment of vocational education and training courses.