Main results of the “Comparative Report”: an overview of the educational systems in five EU countries and theirs training offer in agricultural machinery

Main results of the “Comparative Report”: an overview of the educational systems in five EU countries and theirs training offer in agricultural machinery sector

by Aurora Cavallo – DISTATEQ (Tuscia University, Italy)

Final Conference - Rome, 15th December 2006

THE STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION

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1. The framework of the analysis: aims and research methods

2. The educational systems in the 5 participating countries: an outline

3. The curricula providing agricultural mechanization classes: a quantitative analysis

4. The topics covered in agricultural mechanization classes

5. Main findings and some points of discussion

Aurora Cavallo – DISTATEQ, Italy

THE FRAMEWORK OF THE ANALYSIS: THE AIMS

1WHAT ARE WE DOING?In “economical” terms:

First, we have highlighted the demand of education and training from the enterprises which build agricultural machines Map of the Competences, which identifies the “demand” side

Now, we focus on the supply of education and training in the agricultural machinery sector the Formative Offer, that identifies the “supply” side

The research question is “how much and in which way” the educational system is responding to the pressure of innovation?


THE AIMS OF THE PRESENT ANALYSIS ARE:

1. to provide a comparative outline of the educational system in Europe regarding agricultural mechanization curricula

2. to identify differences and similarities

THE FRAMEWORK OF THE ANALYSIS: THE METHODS

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The research activity was undertaken as a desk study

The sources utilized for data collection were mainly two:

1. The main part of the data were collected on the official website of the Universities and of the Ministries of the participating countries

2. In some cases the data come from official documents or by personal consultation with administrative staff of Universities or of National Agencies

The analysis focuses at university level concerning agricultural mechanization

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS ACROSS EU: AN OVERVIEW

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The Bologna Declaration (1999) initiates the so called “Bologna Process” adopted by European Countries in order to make divergent higher educational systems converge towards a system of academic degrees that are easy to compare. The process will end in 2010.

The European educational system is based essentially on two cycles:

1. The First Cycle (Degree/Bachelor - undergraduate level) geared to the employment market and lasting at least three years

2. The Second Cycle (Master – graduate level) conditional upon the completion of the first cycle.

The system is based on the accumulation and the transfer of credits of the ECTS type

The analysis developed has shown that although there are a lot of similarities in the educational systems of the 5 participating countries, the transformation process to bachelor and master programmes has not been finished at all.

This is a crucial point in the comparison of the National Training Offer in agricultural machinery sector.

Austria: 1 University

Poland: 3 Higher Education Institutions 13 Universities

Italy: 20 Universities

Spain: 23 Universities

Germany: 9 Universities 10 Technical colleges

THE CURRICULA PROVIDING AGRICULTURAL MECHANIZATION (AM)

The map of Universities and Institutions offering courses in AG

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THE CURRICULA PROVIDING AM CLASSES

Austria Germany Italy Poland Spain Average

Number of curricula involving AM classes

10 52 87 72 58 55.8

Undergraduate 3 20 60 25 (47) 29 28

Graduate (incl. PhD)

7 32 27 47 (80) 29 24

Number of AM classes 29 179 99 167 97 114.2

Number of professor teaching AM

1 24 68 154 69 63.2

Number of Universities 1 19 20 16 23 15.8

Source: Comparative Report

Curricula involving AM: an overview

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Total number of ECTS credits

180 160 180 223.91 191.53 187.09

Number of AM classes 1.67 3.44 1.08 1.24 1.83 1.85

Number of AM credits (ECTS) 5.50 18.78 5.81 81.61 7.91 23.92

Rate of AM credits over total (%)

3.33 10.21 3.23 36.81 3.51 11.42

Rate of mandatory credits over total AM

100.0 46.30 99.15 100.0 70.55 83.20


Importance of AM in undergraduate curricula

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Total number of ECTS credits

120 121.50 128.89 211.36 239.85 164.32

Number of AM classes 5.00 7.45 1.38 1.35 2.09 3.45

Number of AM credits (ECTS) 15.17 42.70 6.59 78.80 12.79 31.21

Rate of AM credits over total (%)

12.64 37.39 5.40 36.58 6.17 19.64

Rate of mandatory credits over total AM

0.00 21.86 98.14 100.0 44.42 52.80


Importance of AM in graduate curricula

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THE CURRICULA PROVIDING AM CLASSES: The Topics covered


General topics (e.g basic mechanization…)

1.00 1.98 2.56 2.68 1.55 1.95

Topics specific for agricultural products (e.g. mechanization for cereal, horticultural products…)

1.27 2.44 1.08 1.20 2.00 1.60

Topics specific for each process (e.g. ploughing, sowing, fertilization)

1.27 2.45 1.58 0.95 1.39 1.53

Cross cutting issues (e.g. Job Safety, Certification)

0.36 0.45 0.22 0.98 0.90 0.58

Other Cross cutting issues 0.73 0.64 0.36 1.00 0.29 0.60Source: Comparative Report

The undergraduate classes

Ranking based on a scale from 0 (not offered) to 3 (offered as a key subjects)

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THE CURRICULA PROVIDING AM CLASSES: The Topics covered


General topics (e.g basic mechanization…)

0.88 1.04 1.88 2.69 0.52 1.40

Topics specific for agricultural products (e.g. mechanization for cereal, horticultural products…)

1.19 2.21 1.08 1.11 0.91 1.30

Topics specific for each process (e.g. ploughing, sowing, fertilization)

1.31 1.95 1.40 1.07 0.61 1.27

Cross cutting issues (e. g. Safety)

0.06 0.29 0.92 1.00 0.57 0.57

Other Cross cutting issues 1.00 0.96 0.92 1.16 0.48 0.90


The graduate classes

Ranking based on a scale from 0 (not offered) to 3 (offered as a key subjects)

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MAIN FINDINGS AND SOME POINTS OF DISCUSSION

The analysis conducted has shown that there are still differences between the participating countries with regard to the educational systems and the number of credits that make the comparison more difficult the Bologna Process is in progress

Looking at a quantitative framework of the curricula providing AM classes the context seems strongly heterogeneous across “Europe”

The qualitative analysis of the topics covered by the AM classes the project highlights the need of deepening in the area of Cross Cutting issues for instance in the themes of Safety, Machine Certification, Ergonomics, mainly in the graduate curricula

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MAIN FINDINGS AND SOME POINTS OF DISCUSSION

THE MOST RELEVANT “OUTPUTS”OF THIS PHASE OF OUR PROJECT

We collected a relevant deal of data the Database of the Training Offer (probably the only one actually available on AM didactical curricula)

The methodology identified may be used also in other fields in order to make an estimation of the formative offer

We created a “theoretical model” for updating the formative training offer, to conform it to the actual needs

The model identified may provide the different actors of the system concerned (organizations, education and training centres, workers, students) with practical and theoretic tools useful to enhance the value of human resources and promote the innovation process itself

The model has focused on some integrative elements useful to conform the “European” education and training offer with the needs of the different areas of competences

The results of the research will contribute to the improvement of the competitiveness of the European agricultural machinery industry, through the increase of the educational offer in agricultural mechanization.

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THANK YOU!

Documents

Main results of the “Comparative Report”: an overview of the educational systems in five EU countries and theirs training offer in agricultural machinery