Horticulture a growing proposition at UNE

May 25, 2007

At a time when horticulture is declining in popularity at many Australian universities, staff and students at the University of New England (UNE) have found it to be a growing proposition.

This year a record 52 students are enrolled in the horticulture unit (an elective available through a number of disciplines), which is taught by the internationally renowned teacher and researcher Professor Acram Taji (pictured here). Professor Taji's passion for the subject is contagious, and infects her students who come from a wide range of backgrounds and interests.

"In this unit I have students from agribusiness, science, agriculture and rural science degrees," she said. "I have scheduled the program so that lectures (story-telling), discussions (dealing with global perspectives on horticulture) practical classes (visiting various local enterprises such as vineyards and greenhouses) and team assignments all contribute to students' collaborative learning."

Professor Taji encourages international students (who this year come from Bahrain, Bhutan, Indonesia, India, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Vietnam) to share their perspectives, knowledge and experiences with the Australian students. "Such interactions enrich the class dynamics," she said.

One of these students, Ahmed Eid, came to UNE to study horticulture in order to complement his occupation in quarantine in the Kingdom of Bahrain. "This subject has given me a good opportunity to speak to people in the sector about the challenges they face," he said. "I had heard a lot about the shortage of water and the cost of labour, but I experienced it first-hand when I visited the enterprises during our tour."

Ahmed’s first-hand experience came from a recently completed three-day field trip, during which students toured a range of enterprises in places as far away as Queensland’s Lockyer Valley. These enterprises included a plant nursery, a vegetable seedling nursery, an organic vegetable farm, an orchard using recycled water, mushroom production, a celery farm, a nut processing business, a stone fruit farm and, lastly, an innovative vineyard and wine production enterprise in Ballandean.

Professor Taji explained that a common theme among the businesses visited was the lack of skilled labour available to them. "All the enterprises we visited indicated that right now there was a huge skill shortage in rural Australia," she said. "They need people who understand plant physiology and nutrition, soil fertility, integrated pest management, quality assurance, and global markets. Students taking horticulture develop skills to fit such a profile."

Professor Taji’s horticulture course is an elective that can be taken within UNE's Bachelor of Agriculture, Rural Science, Agribusiness, Science, and Environmental Science degree programs.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at May 25, 2007 05:15 PM