Author : Cubelo, Edwin C.

Summary : This study was conducted to describe the phenomenon of curriculum change in tertiary agriculture education by assessing the influence of certain external, organizational, and individual factors on the extent of integration of the sustainable agriculture (SA) philosophy in the BAchelor of Science in Agriculture (BSA) curriculum. The data were gathered from all deans (administrators) of the college of Agriculture, and faculty members who taught 12 of the fundamental agriculture courses in the BSA curriculum of 11 ACAP member-institutions. The majority of the administrators received strong societal/community feedback on agriculture sustainability-related issues, and greater external support for the SA related activities in their schools. Some 54 percent perceived the mission of their organization to have lesser environmental concern. The majority (64%) viewed their institutions to have high leadership roles in advocacy, education, research and development, and extension activities in relation to ecologically sound, environmentally protective and resource conserving agriculture systems.Some 51 percent of the faculty had a more favorable view of the climate for innovation in their institutions, in contrast to the administrators' (54%) less favorable view. The faculty found their institutions to have inadequate SA related resources. Most of the administrators had attended training courses, seminars, or conferences on topics related to agroecosystems and SA systems, while the majority of the faculty have not. The majority of the administrators had high personal exposure to these issues. Both have high levels of knowledge/familiarity with the goals and some underlying principles of SA.