Articles containing the keyword 'forestry education'

The Agricultural University Committee recommended in its first report that the higher education in agriculture and forestry should be transferred to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The same arguments that were presented on the education of agriculture and forestry can be applied to education of agricultural engineers, surveyors and veterinaries.

According to the proposal of the Committee, the Government reserved in 1931 buildings in Wiik and Malmgård estates for the education of agriculture and forestry. Thus, the higher education of agriculture and forestry have been appointed training areas near Helsinki, where also the education of agricultural engineers, surveyors and veterinaries could be located.

Connections to the University of Helsinki has proven invaluable to the development of higher education of agriculture and forestry. However, the Committee recommends the establishment of separate agricultural university for the sectors, because the other faculties support the separation of the faculty from the university. It seems to the Committee that education in agriculture and forestry no longer poses sufficient opportunities of development within the University of Helsinki. The education in veterinary science should remain in connection to education in agriculture. The education of surveyors and agricultural engineers are at present arranged partly at the Technical University, and their location remains to be decided. A proposal for the organization, staff, education, decrees and professors is included in the article.

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• Maatalousyliopistokomitea, E-mail: my@mm.unknown

In the past decade, research and several surveys have indicated that the competence of higher forestry education graduates does not meet the requirements of working life regarding supervisory and management skills. The aim of this study was to discover what kind of supervisory and management competence is required in the daily tasks of early-career forestry professionals, and to what extent the teaching of these skills would be advisable to include in higher forestry education. The study was implemented through a Webropol survey of the Master’s of Forestry graduates and forestry engineers graduated between 2018–2021, which mapped their supervisory and managerial duties and skills. The study population was 1046 people, of which 30.4% responded to the survey. The principal finding was of an apparent extensive need for the abovementioned skills, as supervisory duties are typical in the work of forestry professionals soon after their graduation. In this study, approximately one fifth of the employed respondents worked in a supervisory position, one third had supervisory or managerial duties, and half had an indirect network of subordinates. Supervisory skills were seen important for all forestry professionals regardless of their position. Moreover, self-management, team management, and well-being and occupational health management were regarded as important skills. However, there appeared to be notable gaps in all these skills. The study results contribute to improving working life orientation in higher forestry education. Based on these findings, we recommend that teaching of these subjects should be implemented by integrating the topics into field-specific courses.

• Manninen, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland; South-Eastern  Finland University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 68, FI-50101 Mikkeli, Finland https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4234-7649 E-mail: heikki.manninen@xamk.fi
• Lehtimäki, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9061-8984 E-mail: hanna.lehtimaki@uef.fi
• Kilpeläinen, TTS Työtehoseura, P.O. Box 5, FI-05201 Rajamäki, Finland E-mail: riitta.kilpelainen@tts.fi
• Lautanen, TTS Työtehoseura, P.O. Box 5, FI-05201 Rajamäki, Finland E-mail: eila.lautanen@tts.fi
• Kärhä, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8455-2974 E-mail: kalle.karha@uef.fi