Forestry in south America: Education and the future

José R.E. Bucarey

José R.E. Bucarey, of Chile, is well known in South America for his work in forestry education, and he has been intimately involved with the FAO Committee on Forestry Education.

The author gives a detailed survey of forestry education throughout South America and suggests various measures for the reform and coordination of curricula. He urges especially that more young people be given the encouragement and training needed to greatly expand the number of forest technicians and skilled workers in the next decade.

Forestry education as it has developed in South America suffers from a serious imbalance between its university and its technical and vocational levels. As a result of this imbalance there is an acute shortage of middle-level foresters throughout the region.

In the curricula of university-level studies one also finds that instead of setting goals based on the actual situation and trends from country to country, the curricula are adaptations from countries more advanced in the various forestry disciplines. Therefore the type of instruction and the subject matter both fail to reflect real conditions in South America.

One also notes that despite the constant preoccupation of the authorities with the forestry sector and forestry education, this does not always lead to practical results. In virtually every country in the region there are restrictions in forestry education in terms of human resources, funds and institutions, whether in the forestry sector itself or in the educational field. Plans and projects do not materialize.

Current forestry projects in most of the countries of South America fail to call on the support of forestry education and training, however much it may be required. What is overlooked is basic: there can be no development without education.

FOREST TECHNICIANS STUDYING DENDROLOGY IN ECUADOR for a continent of forests, five schools

The management and utilization of forest resources require manpower capable of solving the multiple problems connected with these resources, either through teamwork or individually. Three levels of staff are required. Forestry education should therefore aim to produce three levels of trained people: first, managerial staff - professional foresters - responsible for laying down guidelines and for the overall direction of work of maximum complexity; second, forest technicians working in the field and supervising specific kinds of work; third, an efficient force of skilled forest workers for production and servicing tasks (Centro Latinoamericano de Demografía, 1972). The existing structure for education and training on these three levels is as follows (see Table 1):

- Eighteen educational institutions at degree level for professional foresters (i.e., managerial staff).

- Five educational institutions for forestry technicians.

- Five schools in which skilled forestry workers are trained.

Of the 18 higher education institutions for forestry, 11 are in countries of the Andean Pact.¹ On the Atlantic side of South America, schools at that level are found only in Brazil and Argentina. There are some part-time schools in Uruguay but none at all in Paraguay, which has 51 percent of its territory under forests. The educational institutions for forest technicians and skilled workers are all in Andean Pact countries.

¹ The Andean Pact, signed in November 1969, aims at the creation of a common market of Andean countries by 1980. The signatories are Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador. Peru. Chile and Bolivia.

Managerial staff, professional foresters (personal orientador)

Professional foresters are required to detect needs and grasp complex problems in the forestry sector, to gather background information, analyse situations and problems, set measurable objectives and consider alternative solutions, to work with groups and participate in interdisciplinary technical discussions, to make decisions by choosing the best of several alternatives, to efficiently plan forestry work of all types, to organize, coordinate and supervise execution of tasks and to evaluate job performance and the extent of achievement of the pre-established purposes (Chile. Comisión Permanente en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales, 1974).

At the managerial staff level in South America there has been active promotion of forestry education. In 1960 there were only six schools in existence, but this number had increased to 18 by 1974. Not only have new schools been founded but constant efforts are being made to upgrade the quality of teaching. There are postgraduate forestry schools in Venezuela and in Brazil.

All these managerial schools require as part of the entrance qualifications a secondary school certificate in the humanities or the equivalent, and most of them require in addition that applicants pass an entrance examination. Courses of study in all these schools last five or six years, except in Brazil where they are for four years. Most schools require the submission of a thesis and that some time be spent in practical work. Examinations are graded in the traditional manner, and candidates for degrees must accumulate more than 150 credits, each credit being equivalent to one hour in the classroom or two to three hours of laboratory or field work per week. The total number of credits required in the various schools is anywhere between 153 and 260.

THE FORESTRY SCHOOLS OF SOUTH AMERICA (Table 1)

	Category ¹	Year of foundation
Argentina
Nac. de Córdoba (Stgo. del Estero)	P	1958
U. de La Plata (Bs. As.)	P	1960
U. Nac. del Nordeste (Formosa)	P
U. Nac. de La Plata	M	1960
U. Nac. de Buenos Aires	M
Bolivia
U. Boliviana Misael Saracho	P	1967
U. San Simón	M
Brazil
U. Federal de Paraná (Curitiba)	P	1960
U. Federal de Vicosa	P	1964
U. Federal do Rio de Janeiro	P	1967
U. de São Paulo (Piracicaba)	P	1963
U. de Belém/Pará	M
U. Federal de Santa María	M
Colegio Agrícola Irati/Paramá	M
Chile
U. de Chile (Stgo.)	P	1952
U. Austral de Chile	P	1964
U. de Concepción (Los Angeles)	T	1966
U. Católica de Chile (Talca)	T	1973
U. Técnica del Estado (Concepción)	T	1962
Ministerio de Educación	W	1949
Corporación Nacional Forestal	W	1973
Colombia
U. Distrital Fco. José de Caldas	P	1950
U. del Tolima (Ibaqué)	P	1962
U. Nacional de Colombia (Medellin)	P	1951
U. Nacional de Colombia (Medellin)	T
Ecuador
U. Vargas Torres (Esmeralda)	P	1970
Centro Capacitación Forestal	W
Paraguay
U. Nacional de Asunción.	M
Peru
U. Nacional de La Molina	P	1962
U. Nacional del Centro (Huancayo)	P	1960
U. Nac. De la Amazonia Peruana	P	1972
U. Nacional Amazonia P. (Iquitos)	T	1972
Escuela Genaro Herrera (Iquitos)	W
Uruguay
U. de la República (Montevideo)	M	1960
U. del Trabajo (Maldonado)	M
Venezuela
U. de Los Andes (Mérida)	P	1943
U. de Los Andes (Mérida)	W

¹ P = professional foresters, managerial staff
M = miscellaneous
T = forest technicians
W = skilled workers

WHAT THEY STUDY - SUBJECTS AND CREDIT HOURS (Table 2)

A comparison of the curricula of 14 of the 18 schools shows that they consist of 10 semesters, with the exception of the schools in Brazil where (hey are completed in eight semesters. A considerable number of subjects are offered which, for purposes of analysis, may be grouped (following Shirley, 1958) under the following headings: complementary, basic, technical, and professional/vocational. These subjects and the time devoted to them are given in Table 2. Table 3 shows a percentage breakdown of the emphasis given to these four groups of subjects in each of the 14 schools.

HOW THE EMPHASIS DIFFERS IN 14 SCHOOLS (Table 3)

University	Subjects
	Complementary	Basic	Technical	Professional/vocational
	Percent
La Plata	5	37	14	44
Misael Saracho	5	50	16	29
Curitiba	2	22	25	51
Vicosa	7	25	37	31
Chile
Utilization of forest resources	1	36	21	42
Forest resources	2	33	19	46
Austral	3	30	29	38
Distrital	6	30	28	36
Medellín	4	38	20	38
Vargas Torres	5	32	25	38
La Molina	10	39	21	30
Nacional del Centro	9	28	23	40
Nacional Amazonía Per	9	31	19	41
Mérida	-	33	26	41

Thus it can be seen from the number of credits per group of subjects and the proportions of these subjects in the curricula that the current trend is to devote much time to basic and complementary subjects, and to include a great many technical and vocational/professional subjects as well.

Only four schools - Curitiba, Vicosa, Austral and Mérida - devote more than 66 percent of their curricula to technical and vocational/professional subjects. The rest use 33 percent or more of their curricula for complementary and basic subjects, some as much as 42, 49 and 50 percent.

The figures are not indicative of any real trend in forestry education in these schools because the professional/vocational subjects fall into four subgroups, depending on what the schools offer in their various faculties, departments or institutions, rather than on possible fields of specialization, such as forestry management or forest industries and products (Shirley, 1964).

The professional/vocational subjects corresponding to each subgroup are as follows:

- FOREST RESOURCES: silviculture, soil science, genetic improvement, forest protection, soil and water conservation.

- FOREST INDUSTRIES AND PRODUCTS: wood science, wood technology, pulp and paper, sawmilling, timber preservation and curing, lumbering, board and plywood, wood use.

- FOREST MANAGEMENT: mensuration, forest inventory, management methods, wild lands, forestry economics, cost/return analysis, industrial management, marketing.

- FORESTRY ENGINEERING: watershed and torrent control, forest roads, machinery, construction, building stability, energy sources, hydraulics.

The educational standards of South American forestry schools are steadily advancing. They are revising their curricula to bring them up to date, and are enabling their teaching staff to obtain advanced training, primarily in pedagogy, but also in professional/vocational subjects.

In order to cover gaps in the pedagogy and methodology background of the teaching staff, forestry schools have formed associations or launched joint programmes for advanced training, drawing on each other's resources as well as calling on schools of agriculture and veterinary medicine for assistance. The Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas of the Organization of American States has been the leader and coordinator of these programmes.

Problems of professional/vocational manpower training have been solved to some extent with scholarships and fellowships available through foundations, international agencies and under bilateral conventions. The latter have provided for study at La Molina, Mérida Curitiba, Universidad de Chile and Austral.

However, these efforts are still inadequate. Only half the teaching staff in five of these 14 schools hold or are earning postgraduate degrees, while the remaining schools, either because they were only recently created or because they have been unable to obtain sufficient assistance, have few professionals holding postgraduate degrees.

It is estimated that there are 560 teachers of technical and professional/vocational subjects holding professional degrees in the 18 schools in this category. The figures fluctuate between 19 and 95 teachers per school. Fewer than 25 percent of these university instructors-116-are full-time, ranging from 2 to 53 persons per school.

The low percentage of full-time professional teachers in university posts means, among other things, that very little planned research is being done at the universities. In general, research has been a matter of personal interest or concern of individual teachers, and has not been adequately planned in the light of available resources and the requirements of the various countries. A very few schools in Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Chile may be exceptions to this general rule, as they do have regular programmes for region-wide research.

Another shortcoming of scientific education in general in South America is that there is no permanent information office or agency furnishing facts and figures about what the various countries are doing in the fields of science and technology. Furthermore, there is not a single regional forestry publication which appears regularly.

Shirley and Prats-Llauradó (1969) estimate that 4800 university-trained professional foresters will be needed by 1985 for all South America. There are now only 1820 professionals in the region, and the total enrolment of forestry students is 1600. From these figures it would appear that to meet the needs of 1985 there should be an average of 15 forestry graduates per school per year.

These thoughts should make us cautious both as regards the increased student enrolment and the establishment of new schools in countries where some already exist.

Forest technicians (personal ejecutor/técnicos)

Forest technicians are expected to determine requirements and specific technical problems in forestry work, gather background material, analyse situations and problems and set measurable goals, and investigate possible alternatives, working in teams and participating in technical discussions. They should be able to direct and supervise production servicing, training activities and extension work in forestry (Chile. Comisión Permanente en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales, 1974).

According to projected requirements, by 1985 South America will need 33 schools or training centres and 22530 trained forest technicians (Shirley and Prats Llauradó, 1969). At present there are only five training centres for this category, and no more than 600 students enrolled for training.

In Chile, entrance requirements are a high school certificate (bachillerato) in the humanities or the equivalent (passing of academic aptitude test), three years of study, practical work and a final report. Colombia's school of forestry of the Instituto Nacional pare el Desarrollo de los Recursos Naturales is essentially an on-the-job training centre for its own staff. At Conocoto, Ecuador, the high school diploma plus one year of training are required.

Since only the official curricula of the schools in Chile are available, it is not possible to compare them with those of other countries. But unofficially it has been learned that schools giving training up to this level have either been closed or reorganized at a higher level, so that there are none at all at present.

Skilled forest workers (personal operador)

Skilled labour is expected to be capable of doing forestry jobs, using and maintaining equipment and tools, locating and solving less serious practical problems. Skilled forest workers should also be capable of managing, organizing and supervising work done by both skilled and unskilled labour, and of acting as foremen (Chile. Comisión Permanente en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales, 1974).

There are five training centres for skilled forest workers in South America two in Chile, and one each in Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela - which altogether have trained about 10000 people for specific forestry jobs.

If the projected figure of 22530 for technical executive staff is accepted (Shirley and Prats-Llauradó, 1969), using the ratio in Chile of 20 workmen to one forest technician (Chile. Comisión Permanente en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales, 1974), the region will need 450000 skilled workers trained at special centres by 1985.

This gives an idea of the tremendous shortage of skilled workers in South America, both today and against future requirements. Enormous efforts will have to be made in order to meet this demand.

CHAIN SAW INSTRUCTION FOR LATIN AMERICAN SKILLED WORKERS an underutilized species of men

The next 25 years

In the next quarter century the population of South America will be predominantly youthful. It is estimated that there will be 230 million under 15 years of age by the year 2000 (Centro Latinoamericano de Demografía, 1972). Yet this is a region where restricted university enrolment and strict selection of student candidates are customary in education. A way out of this impasse must be found. It may be found by guiding youth toward technical and vocational/professional careers or skilled worker occupations. The forestry sector should welcome this policy since these are precisely the levels at which there is a dangerous shortage of personnel.

In view of the kind of education offered, the demand for professionals and the educational requirements of the region, it is suggested that a regional commission be set up with the active participation of societies and associations of foresters, and the support of the International Union of Societies of Foresters. Such a regional commission could investigate the status of forestry education in each country and make recommendations to governments and international agencies regarding the different levels of forestry education; for instance, the closing down or support of old schools, or the establishment of new ones. In some cases it may be better for students to go abroad rather than establish new schools at particular levels in their own countries.

Forestry education in South America is of recent date and still lacks adequate staff and the resources needed to create a consciousness of the importance of forestry in the development of the region. Nor has it been possible in these recent years to develop an adequate technology which would inculcate responsible attitudes toward forestry problems. From this lack of responsibility come promises of things to be done and plans to be adopted, which amount to nothing and add to the general disillusion.

It is urged that there be a joining of forces of international bodies in the field of forestry (FAO, the United Nations Development Programme, the Organization of American States, the World Bank and others) and that from such a joint effort regional or subregional offices be created for the coordination of forestry education (including the work of the regional commission suggested above), research and extension work in South America.

The tasks

These are some of the tasks which such offices could carry out:

- They could maintain and publish descriptions of the kinds of research being done throughout the region, together with rosters by specialty of professors and research workers.

- They could train teams of teachers available to travel to various schools to give short courses or to work on the development of curricula.

- They could train professors in university methodology, evaluation and programming of teaching.

- They could organize and maintain one or more documentation centres at the regional or subregional level.

- They could seek financing for approved programmes from agencies or institutions other than those sponsoring the system.

- They could work toward coordinated specialization of forestry schools within the region in order to avoid duplication of effort and to facilitate and promote an interchange of students and teachers wishing to specialize in certain fields of study not offered at their own schools or study centres.

- They could ensure that forestry schools in South America follow a general set of rules concerning courses of study as well as the nature and number of teaching hours per subject per day.

Reforms

Forestry education is costly. It calls for well-trained staff, teachers of high calibre, extensive practical work, travel, the maintenance of equipment and vehicles. To cope better with such expenses, the following policies are suggested:

- Schools at different levels within a certain locality should be grouped in order to give them all wider access to equipment, installations and facilities, experimentation fields and production forests. A regional register of machinery and equipment available for loan or rental should be kept.

- Forestry consultancy offices should be opened at each school for the purpose of raising income for the school.
- Sawmills, wood-working plants, furniture manufacturing and other workshops should be set up at each school and managed by the school officials, in order to supplement teaching, do research for extension work and production, and also to bring in additional income to the schools. Whenever possible experiments of this sort should be self-financing, or even profit-making.

- The schools should function as quality-testing centres for patented forest products.

- The schools should also be national research centres.

Trimesters

It is also proposed that a trimestral curriculum system be adopted for additional flexibility. This would result in the better students going through the schools more rapidly, in the more efficient use of human and material resources, and in enabling teachers from other schools or from foreign countries to participate more readily in the development of curricula. So as to better organize the teaching of various kinds of related disciplines, a method of teaching in blocks or cycles which group subjects together is also favoured. This would permit the better utilization of existing resources. It would also enable nonteaching forestry and forest industry professionals to sit in on groups of subjects useful for their particular work, using them as refresher courses. It is believed that this system would also diminish the drop-out rate, by enabling students who fail for other than strictly academic reasons to go into secondary occupations important to forestry, for example, timber grading and tree nurseries.

In this effort to make better use of available resources, the participation of nonteaching professionals should be sought for the preparation and teaching of certain subjects, and for giving shorter courses. The promotion of continuing education is important in this context.

It is also suggested that the duration of university studies be shortened and a system of specialization established. This would have the effect of ensuring that specialization meets the real needs of a country. It should result in a country spending less money on the education of professionals who are generalists and enabling more students to acquire initial specialized training in their own countries.

All these suggestions are put forward in the full conviction that South America already has an adequate educational basis on which to build, as well as the ability to face its own problems and find solutions within the countries of the region first and foremost, and only secondarily from countries outside. The transformation of South America is not merely a matter of technology, it also involves a change of social conditions. Development depends largely on the effective involvement of the people in society, in the educational process, and in social justice, all of which is to say that to a singular degree it is a question of mind over matter.

References

ANDLER, W. 1973, Vademecum forestal para América Latina. Santiago, FAO

BUCAREY, JOSÉ R.E. 1973, Es necesario el postgrado de ciencias agropecurias y forestales en Chile. In Actas del Seminario sobre Educación Agropecuaria y Forestal. Consejo de Rectores de las Universidades Chilenas. Termas de Catillo.

CASTRONOVO, F. & BONILLA, J. 1970, La enseñanza forestal universitaria en la zona sur Buenos Aires, CEDIE. (Estudios sobre Investigación y Enseñanza No. 1)

CENTRO LATINOAMERICANO DE DEMOGRAFÍA. 1972, Boletín Demográfico, 5 (10).

CHILE. COMISIÓN PERMANENTE EN CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y FORESTALES. COMITÉ FORESTAL 1974, Análisis de la educatión en el sector f vestal y proposiciones para su desarrollo. Consejo de Rectores de las Universida des Chilenas. 13 p.

D'ADAMO, O. 1972, The evolution of the forest products industry in Latin America. World Wood, 13(11):32-34.

INSTITUTO INTERAMERICANO DE CIENCIAS AGRÍCOLAS. 1972, I seminario de profesores de la zona andina. Lima.

SHIRLEY, H.1958, Forestry education and research in Russia. Journal of Forestry, 56(12):892-899.

SHIRLEY, H. 1964, Organization of professional education in forestry for developing countries. Paper presented to FAO Advisory Committee on Forestry Education, Mérida, Venezuela.

SHIRLEY, H. & PRATS-LLAURADÓ, J. 1969, Forestry education and training in Latin America. Rome, FAO. FO-MISC/69/5.