Queensland, Australia
October 9, 2006
The
University of Queensland will continue to offer Australia's
premier agriculture courses at its Gatton and St Lucia campuses.
Executive Dean of the Natural Resources, Agriculture and
Veterinary Science Faculty Professor Roger Swift said the
University had recently proposed to merge two schools to form a
new School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences.
“The quality of our internationally-recognised programs will not
be affected in the new school, which will continue to respond to
student and industry needs,” he said.
Professor Swift said the University would reluctantly implement
adjustments in staff numbers, because of changed student demand
following Australia's drought conditions.
This had mainly affected crop production and horticulture.
However, other areas of strength such as animal production,
environment and natural resource management have been largely
unaffected.
The University was working closely with industry to improve
public understanding of the sector's value and of the many job
opportunities awaiting graduates. He said the new school would
feature research concentrations in soil science, crop science
and food science.
“These changes are designed to secure the future of agricultural
education at the University particularly in the crop science
area, and to ensure a continuing stream of high quality
graduates for industry,” he said.
“The interesting thing is that job opportunities exceed the
number of graduates we can produce.”
“We've demonstrated our confidence in the future of these
sectors by investing more than $30 million in enhancing these
resources,” he said.
“This includes state-of-the-art laboratories, an equine breeding
complex, wind tunnel for spray applications, post-harvest
facilities, a modern food-processing plant, as well as a
nursery, greenhouses and tissue-culture facilities.”
These facilities are being further bolstered with the planned
multi-million dollar relocation of the School of Veterinary
Science to Gatton campus and the establishment of an $28.5
million Centre for Advanced Animal Science at UQ Gatton in
partnership with Queensland's Department of Primary Industry and
Fisheries.
A multi-million dollar collaborative learning centre, which
allows teaching collaboration across campuses, and other centres
nationally and internationally, is close to completion. This
centre will also be available for use by the local community. |