Does a transdisciplinary approach to forestry education meet students' career aspirations? Lessons from a curriculum innovation in Ghana

• The forestry sector is generally transitioning towards becoming more inclusive, responsive and responsible, thus creating an increasingly dynamic professional environment. Many universities are thus broadening the scope of traditional forestry programmes towards a more transdisciplinary paradigm. This paper assesses the transdisciplinary approach used in a Natural Resource and Environmental Governance programme in Ghana. It identifies students' motivations for choosing this transdisciplinary programme and determines how the programme satisfies their future career aspirations. The study reveals that students prefer transdisciplinarity because they expect it will make them more versatile, thus offering better job prospects. Our study also shows that although the programme exhibits features of transdisciplinarity, its collaborations beyond academia is still rather limited. Despite this, we found that the programme largely satisfies the aspirations of most students, except those with non-academic career aspirations. The paper concludes by arguing that transdisciplinary education requires a supportive institutional environment.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

transdisciplinary

forestry education

student aspiration

natural resources curriculum

Ghana

conservation careers

natural-resources

interdisciplinary

perspectives

knowledge

project

program

skills

guide

level

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)