Enhancing Agricultural and Applied Economics Educational Programs

Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Aug 2005 by White, Fred C

Little information is available on how to effectively increase student enrollment and student credit hour production in Agricultural and Applied Economics. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss a case study of a comprehensive approach to enhance the educational program in Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Georgia.

In the last 3 years, the number of majors in the department has increased from 130 to 210, which is well over a 50% increase. The number of student credit hours increased over 30% in the last 3 years reported, but the latest figures are not yet available. The department generated over 15% of the college's student credit hours in 2003, compared with 12% 3 years earlier.

The department's strategic plan addressed the undergraduate program in detail. The relevant modeling issue was: How can the department enhance the quality of its undergraduate programs? Enhancing the quality of undergraduate programs involves focusing on providing students with economic knowledge, analytical skills, communication skills, and the ability to apply knowledge and skills to solve practical problems. Also important are integration of the department's research and public service programs with the teaching program, increasing student and faculty diversity, securing adequate teaching support, improved methods for evaluating teaching performance, and better integration of the department's teaching program with the University.

The specific objectives of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department to enhance the undergraduate program are:

* to increase the number and diversity of majors in our undergraduate program;

* to increase the quality and diversity of the department's faculty involved in teaching;

* to evaluate and revise the current curricula, teaching loads, targeted student body, class size, and scheduling with an objective of being better integrated with the University;

* to secure adequate funding to develop enrichment programs for the department's undergraduate majors;

* to increase the web capabilities of the department, whereby all pertinent information can be accessed through the web; and

* to reconfigure and renovate classrooms to enhance and expand the learning experience.

This presentation focuses on the methods used to enhance the educational programs that have resulted in recruiting a larger and more diverse student body and generating more student credit hours. In particular, the comprehensive approach to increase the total number of majors in Agricultural and Applied Economics to 200 students in 3 years will be described and assessed.

High-Quality Instruction and Educational Opportunities

The Agricultural and Applied Economics Department has a long history of outstanding teachers. The department's faculty have won numerous teaching awards. New faculty with a strong commitment to teaching have been hired and placed in the classroom. Experienced faculty members have been reassigned to different courses to provide the best possible offering of courses. Outstanding teachers have been assigned to the introductory course to provide a strong foundation in microeconomics and to recruit students to our majors. In addition, faculty members serve effectively as advisors.

Students have great opportunities through study abroad and internship programs. Each summer several of our students have internships in Washington, D.C., and Brussels. In 2004, seven students from Agricultural and Applied Economics had paid internships in Washington, D.C. Students travel in the department's study abroad courses in Mexico and New Zealand. Other students work toward international agriculture certificates by studying and/or interning in foreign countries. These are just some of the examples of outstanding educational opportunities that help attract students to the Agricultural and Applied Economics programs.

Curricular Changes

After several years of effort, the department's introductory course, Applied Microeconomic Principles, received approval by the Board of Regents for inclusion in the social science core curriculum. This is the only College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences course that can be counted in the core courses. This course is being promoted throughout the College to increase its enrollment. Outstanding teachers in the department teach this course for recruitment purposes.

The department has been able to change a College requirement in chemistry. After battling over the chemistry requirement for years, the department was finally able to convince others on campus that our calculus requirements were more relevant to this discipline than chemistry and that the calculus courses maintain rigor in our program. We continue to encourage students to take chemistry, but many prospective students have already taken other lab sciences, so this change in requirements has been valuable in recruitment.

Several new minors have been developed in the department.

* Environmental Economics and Management

* Environmental Law