UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > European students enrich UNE agriculture

Next UNE gains US distance education accreditation February 24, 2005  

Previous Meeting of minds to overcome maths, science problems February 22, 2005 

European students enrich UNE agriculture

February 23, 2005

LEAFSE 05.thumb .jpgFive postgraduate students from universities in Europe have just arrived at the University of New England to contribute to a cross-fertilisation of ideas in the teaching and practice of sustainable agriculture and resource management.

They are the second group of European students to travel to Armidale under an exchange program funded by the Australian Government and the European Union. (The first group arrived at this time last year.)

The five students are from universities in Denmark, The Netherlands, and Germany. During their semester of study at UNE they will investigate organic farming in the New England region, and study a range of agricultural and resource management subjects of their own choice within UNE’s Faculty of The Sciences.

The program, called “Learning through Exchange: Agriculture, Food Systems and Environment”(LEAFSE), involves four Australian and four European universities. In Australia these are the Universities of Western Sydney, New England, Queensland and Western Australia, and in Europe the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark, the University of Wageningen in The Netherlands, the University of Kassel in Germany, and the University of Wales in the UK. The students, all working towards Master’s degrees, spend an entire semester at one of the universities in the opposite hemisphere.

All the students (European and Australian) in the 2005 program, including six from UNE, spent two weeks together in Copenhagen earlier this year before moving on to their host universities.

Those studying at UNE are Marieke Zweers and Daniel van Vugt from The Netherlands, Regina Quast and Stefan Simon from Germany, and Vibeke Mortensen from Denmark. They are all aged between 23 and 25, and several of them have never been to Australia before. They are all excited about the prospect of experiencing the education system at an Australian university, and Australian culture and language, as well as about their studies at UNE. After their mid-year exams, they will all do some travelling around Australia before flying back to Europe.

As part of their studies, they will undertake a collaborative project on organic farming enterprises in the New England region, and will present a report that will contribute to our understanding of organic agriculture in Australia.

The facilitators of the LEAFSE program at UNE are Professor Acram Taji, Dr Heiko Daniel and Dr Paul Kristiansen, all from UNE’s School of Rural Science and Agriculture. “Last year’s visit by our first group of European LEAFSE students enriched us all,” Professor Taji said, “and this year’s visit will be just as stimulating. For their part, the students take away an experience of agricultural education at an Australian regional university that has a world-wide reputation for excellence in rural science.”


Media contact: Professor Acram Taji, Agronomy and Soil Science, UNE (02) 6773 2869 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE (02) 6773 3049.
The photograph reproduced here is available. Please contact Jim Scanlan on (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at February 23, 2005 10:04 AM