Knowledge for being, a strategy for higher agricultural education

Abstract

Change, is the most common feature used to describe the present era. A comparison of the present century with the last one shows that the present generation, has experienced more rapid and divers change. Nowadays, all societies are faced with quick changes in industries, communications, cultures, agriculture, etcetera. Agriculture has gone through five different stages called pinioning agriculture, production agriculture, efficiency agriculture, sustainable agriculture and trading agriculture. Comparison of these agricultural stages shows that nobody could tell what would be the next stage. In other words, what would be the agricultural characteristics in the next one or two decades? The international organization, UNESCO, has announced that there should be an international effort to prepare people with special skills. This announcement remarks on the necessity for changes in educational strategies instead of changes in educational programs. The reason for this view may be because of the low competency in higher education graduates. Therefore, it seems that there should be a strategy for education which enables students (as learners) to learn skills for coping with change. This strategy is called knowledge for being. The knowledge for being strategy emphasizes competency development through the use of a set of characteristics for teaching and learning. It is no longer acceptable for agricultural higher education institutions to prepare their students with only “theoretical knowledge” or “professional knowledge” in a specific discipline.