Agricultural education in England and the dictates of the market

Abstract

Agricultural education in England is at a crossroads. In line with Government policy to make public-sector service provision more responsive to market forces, the county agricultural colleges were made independent corporations on April 1st 1993. This change in status has coincided with substantial changes in the market that they have traditionally served - the school-leaver seeking to make a career in farming or horticulture. This article describes these changes and considers the main strategic options open to the agricultural colleges at this time in the light of results from a recently-completed survey exploring the use of vocational education/training provision by the rural population as a whole. It concludes that there is scope for the transformation of some agricultural colleges into Rural Business Centres providing vocational education, training and a range of related services to rural business and the rural population as a whole.