Facilitating Transformation and Competence Development in Sustainable Agriculture University Education: An Experiential and Action Oriented Approach

Paola Migliorini and Geir Lieblein
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Paola Migliorini: University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, Pollenzo 12042, Bra (CN), Italy
Geir Lieblein: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås 1430, Norway

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: The need to strengthen the connection between academia and society has received increased attention over the past years. The importance of bringing university students closer to stakeholders in society as part of their learning process is high regarding sustainable agriculture, because of its applied approach. University programs based on experiential and action-oriented learning have been developed over the past decades, but more knowledge is needed about the impact of these educational activities. In a short course in sustainable agriculture at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Bra, Italy, we examined the impacts of experiential and action-oriented learning on competency development as well as transformational impacts on the students. We found that students improve on several core competences as a result of their participation in the short course, and also signs of deep transformational processes among the students.

Keywords: experiential learning; action learning; sustainable agriculture; transformation; self-assessment; competence-based education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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