Despite rapid urbanization, the issues of agriculture attract increased attention of government and scientific world. Food security and independence are the most important priorities for any country. Politicians and researchers seek for ways to improve the life of rural citizens and to use the resources of the national land to the maximum.
The same applies to the growing generation. Almost each student of an agrarian educational institution has to write a college admission essay or a research paper on the issues of rural development, to create an innovative project. Exactly the quality education lays the foundation for prosperity in this sphere.
Today, agriculture, like no other industry, is poorly staffed with specialists. And therefore, one of the most important tasks is the training of the personnel working in rural areas. Young specialists should receive a quality knowledge that meets the highest requirements for modern production.
The problems of education in the rural sector
Mostly semi-professional cadres who received skills in the workplace and do not have the bases of scientific professional knowledge work in rural areas. This is especially true for personal subsidiary farms, where the method of "trial and error" is the most common. In practice, only a third of graduates of higher educational institutions and technical schools come to work in agricultural organizations.
The ties between educational institutions and agricultural enterprises are not strong enough. The content of training courses does not fully meet the requirements set by employers for the level of professional competence of graduates. Students experience difficulties with passing labor practice.
In the agrarian science, research is conducted only on separate scientific lines. The practical effect of these studies is extremely low: according to various estimates, up to 40-50 percent of completed scientific and technical developments remain unclaimed. This is due to the lack of an effective organizational and economic mechanism for managing innovation, encouraging developers to create new projects, the low orientation of science to the needs of practice.
Quality education will bring rural development to a new level
According to experts, education can become a force that can pull the rural areas out of a systemic crisis. The situation is understood at the highest level. The governments of many countries pay increased attention to the agrarian sector of the economy, support the rural areas with national projects and funded programs. Agricultural enterprises began to motivate specialists. Young people who live and work in the countryside are encouraged with housing, grants, wage premiums.
The results of industry assessments show that many universities need to be optimized. Therefore, the planned enlargement of educational institutions continues. This entails an increase in the financing of scientific processes, in the average salary of scientific and pedagogical workers, in the economic efficiency of universities.
It is necessary to create student campuses for specialized training. Undoubtedly, deep historical traditions and uniqueness of each educational institution should be taken into account. Scientific councils, faculties and departments of reorganized universities should participate in the development of new concepts.
Today, rural enterprises need employees with the most up-to-date knowledge. Competent specialists are the guarantee of effective work, additional profit, and stability of the organization. Professionals are especially important in terms of improving technology in modern industries. It should be borne in mind that the demand of the majority of employers is aimed at obtaining a ready-qualified, experienced agrarian worker. This poses new challenges for the universities.
Modernization of education
The main directions of modernization of agrarian education are ensuring the accessibility of vocational training for rural youth, the upbringing of qualified personnel with the demanded profile. The specialists should be competitive in the labor market, capable of ensuring effective management of the agro-industrial complex. The modern concept of education involves the development of an outlook that includes the whole system of network relationships between the various components of the agro sphere.
Modernization should be considered as a complex of innovative process, including the improvement of the quality of education and its effective organization, a significant increase in the level of methodical work, material and information exchange.
Students should have new motivations for obtaining professional and general cultural competencies. This is facilitated by new teaching technologies, the use of interactive methods, and the involvement of employers in the implementation of educational projects. Universities have to adjust interaction with enterprises and their associations not only in the development and implementation of basic and supplementary programs, but also in assessing the competencies of graduates.
Creation of a model for joint cooperation of agrarian educational institutions, business, and the state will let to supplement the scientific innovations with the development of direct ties with organizations of the agro-industrial complex, primarily with strategic partners (the largest companies, agro holdings) for the production and processing of agricultural products. As a result, competitive fundamental research will develop. On its basis, breakthrough development with subsequent commercialization will be implemented, which will ensure the further strengthening of agrarian universities.
An international scope can be regarded as the most important aspect of the modernization of agrarian education. In recent years, a number of steps have been taken to modernize vocational training, improve its quality, integrate education into the international space. First of all, we are talking about increasing the flexibility of educational programs, overcoming a narrow specialization. Modern institutions should become active participants in the process of internationalization, increase export of educational services and build a balanced system of relations with foreign partners.
It must be remembered that historically, the United States has always been an agrarian country, and its welfare has largely depended on the effective development of agriculture. The main task of promoting the state as the world's largest power is the arrangement of its territories, in which the key role belongs to the agrarian education.
At the beginning of the 21st century, when the agro-industrial complex entered a new period of development, the decisions on ensuring the country's food security, the preservation, and revival of rural areas, to a large extent, depend on the skills and competence of young specialists.
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