Under the overall supervision of the Director of the Forest Resources Division and the technical supervision of the Chief of the Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service (FORC) and the Forestry Research, Education and Extension Group, the contractor will prepare a paper following the present terms of reference.
In many areas of the world, the forestry sector is evolving and adapting to new demands that in turn increase pressure on forest resources, its goods and services. Global trends such as, liberalisation and decentralisation, increasing role of the private sector and local communities amongst others, have changed the forestry institutional setting and new actors have emerged as partners in many sectors that traditionally had been public sector domains. There is a change from timber-exploitation to management of forest resources (including non-timber forest products) and there is a shift from a mono-disciplinary approach (typified by "silviculture") towards an inter-disciplinary approach (typified by agroforestry and social forestry). Thus, the value of forests has shifted from being based mainly upon a forest-use model, to one that values forest services and includes also economic, social and environmental concerns. Increased attention is given to biodiversity, non wood forest products and other environmental functions provided by forests as well as to their fundamental role in the livelihood systems of very large numbers of people, outside as well as inside forests.
Inevitably, this context has implications on how forestry is conceived, implemented and learned. In particular, at university level, the traditional curriculum of forestry education needs to be revised in order to make it more responsive to the social, economic and environmental evolution of the forestry sector. Some forestry education institutions have developed curricula, teaching methods and tools but still are irrelevant to the development objectives of individual countries, to the needs of rural communities, labour and global market. Most of these traditional forestry education systems are, therefore, experiencing a period of crisis, with falling of student enrolments, diminishing graduate employment prospects, competition from other educational institutions and private organisations, and down-sizing in the public financial support. All these trends, problems and circumstances are putting the education and training systems under pressure and all call for changes in forestry education.
The case studies are primarily aimed at including examples of curriculum development, procedures and revision from developing countries in Africa (Morocco, Namibia), Asia (Vietnam), Europe (Ukraine) and Latin America (Honduras, Uruguay). These studies shall be published as a working document entitled "Forestry Curriculum Development and Revision, Case Studies in Developing Countries" to be used at an expert consultation.
The objective of the case studies is to describe the procedure and methodology that have been used when revising the curriculum of formal forestry schools, colleges and universities. The aim is to identify lessons learned from curriculum revision processes in order to provide examples and guidance on successful revision of curriculum to meet the present and future needs. The case studies should critically analyse and compare the different approaches taken by the educational organisation in the interest of producing high quality and relevant forestry curricula.
Each case study must include:
A well-structured paper on the approach used and experiences gained in a specific case of forestry curriculum development and revision.
