APPROACHES AND METHODOLOGIES FOR CURRICULUM REVISION

Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE)

Prepared by Al Moslemi
Dean, Graduate School, CATIE
Turrialba, Costa Rica

In addressing this topic, my presentation will probably differ from others in that my institution is involved in graduate education including the master and doctoral degrees. We do not offer undergraduate education and therefore my comments pertain to education beyond the bachelor's degree in which we have experience. I believe my institution is in a unique situation where primarily a research institution has integrated graduate education with its research activities successfully for nearly half a century.

To provide a perspective on my institution, it is relevant to present a brief history of CATIE as an institution.

In 1940, President Roosevelt announced the "Good Neighbor" policy in the United States. During the same year, the 8^th Scientific Congress was held in Washington discussing, among other topics, the necessity for creating an organization devoted to tropical agriculture.

Following up in 1941, the Inter- American Committee on Tropical Agriculture selected Costa Rica among 12 potential countries, as the headquarters for an institute for research and education on tropical agriculture. A year later, the Pan American Union created the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Sciences (IICA) to advance research and education in tropical agriculture (which included forestry and related natural resources).

In 1945, IICA and the Organization of American States (OAS) formally announced the creation of a master's degree in order to offer a graduate-level education in tropical America. IICA conferred the master's degree at that time. This continued until 1960 when IICA and OAS decided to create a Center for Education and Research in Turrialba, Costa Rica while IICA continued conferring the degree of Master of Science and Master of Agriculture. A dean/director of education was appointed as the head of this programme.

Later in 1973 IICA created Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) charged with the responsibility for carrying out research and graduate education at the master's level as IICA had done in prior years. A joint degree programme with the University of Costa Rica was developed in which the University of Costa Rica assumed the responsibilities for the academic aspects of the master's programme and research was carried out largely by CATIE. At this time, degrees were conferred jointly by the University of Costa Rica and CATIE.

Finally in 1996, the Board of Directors at CATIE approved a doctoral programme in cooperation with other institutions in Europe and the United States. By 2001, CATIE has finalized two agreements for joint doctoral programmes with the University of Wales-Bangor in the United Kingdom and the University of Idaho in the United States. These programmes are truly joint programmes in their entirety involving joint supervision and conferring joint degrees by the institutions involved. In addition, at this time, CATIE offers its own doctoral degree in cooperation with a number of other European and US institutions.

The basic educational philosophy

CATIE, since its inception, has concentrated its educational offering at the graduate level for three basic reasons:

1. It believes that since regional institutions are offering undergraduate degrees in agriculture and natural resources, there is not a strong justification for CATIE to duplicate this effort.
2. There is a need to develop human resources at a high educational level which enables its graduates to assume leadership positions in the government, NGO's, the private industry and elsewhere.
3. The educational programme needs to be compatible to the institution's research mandate.

In this philosophy, the institution has largely succeeded. Many CATIE alumni have assumed leadership offices in nearly all countries of Central America and elsewhere.

The approach is through human resources development that provides highly trained professional personnel who can influence policy and processes by which agricultural and natural resources decisions are made. CATIE believes that this multiplies its impact on the wise production of goods and services consistent with environmental protection, which is essential for the long-term productivity of land and water resources of the American tropics.

Curricular development

The existing curricula at CATIE can be divided into two major programmes; one dealing with the master's degree and the other its doctoral programme. The curricular approaches are completely different in many respects while there are also similarities.

The master's programme is a self-contained, structured programme with a modest level of flexibility designed to offer a level of knowledge over a span of two years. During the first year, students take four quarters of course work in accordance with a plan approved by the CATIE's Graduate Council. The courses are developed based on the needs of the profession in the region and availability of professional personnel. When an area of expertise is needed but is not represented among the faculty, outside expertise is contracted to deliver the needed courses incorporating the body of knowledge that CATIE feels is necessary.

Our approach is to teach students to think and synthesize based on the circumstances of the real world. Course contents are evaluated periodically to ensure relevance to the needs of the region and delivered in accordance with international standards. Laboratory and field experiences are essential parts of this educational experience.

CATIE also believes in a faculty selection that is truly international in outlook and selects students across the countries of the its membership and elsewhere to create a balance in representation. The member countries of CATIE with whom CATIE has contractual arrangements include: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. In addition, several other countries in South America.

Our institution regularly seeks input from these nations and adjusts its total programme activities including its educational offerings accordingly. Through the institution's short-term Training Programme, it also seeks input from all those it contacts.

The master's programme

The Master's programme, as already noted earlier, began in 1945 and has undergone numerous changes over time. It has produced some 1600 graduates over that period of time many of whom have served in leadership positions including ministers, deputy ministers, directors of offices of agriculture and natural resources and the like as well as leading positions in NGOs and the private industry.

At the present time, the programme currently offers the opportunity for the student to focus in one of several areas of concentration as follows:

• Environmental Socioeconomics
• Integrated Pest Management
• Conservation of Tropical Forests and Biodiversity
• Ecological Agriculture
• Tropical Agroforestry

In addition, there is discussion of offering a concentration area in Watershed Management.

The students coming to CATIE for the master's degree originate from many of its member nations as well as others in Latin America and elsewhere.

Table 1 shows the distribution of the students based on their country of origin.

The curriculum for the master's programme is offered "in house". This implies that all needed courses are offered by CATIE and the programme is totally self-contained.

Table 2 lists the courses that are currently offered at the Master's level.

Table 1: Listing of students by country of origin

Table 2: List of Courses offered by CATIE

Consistent with its aim to offer a high quality education, the students/teacher ratios are kept low although the costs per credit hour generated need to be considered in this endeavor.

Attached to this paper, I have enclosed a copy of our graduate studies bulletin just published. It provides additional information on CATIE' master and doctoral programme.

Briefly, the programme requires 24 credit hours of course work taken over four quarters during the first year followed by of additional year of research for which 24 additional credits are awarded. All students are required to complete a thesis. The programme is very intensive. Students are individually supervised throughout their programme of study by a major advisor and under the direction of a supervisory committee of three professors.

The Doctoral Programme

Our institution, after nearly half a century of offering graduate education at the master's level, began an exploration of the possibility of offering a doctoral programme. This decision was dictated by three factors:

CATIE felt that the region that it is serving is now in need of highly educated professionals in the areas of its expertise. The regional universities were now beginning to offer educational opportunities at the master's level and needed faculty and other highly trained professional personnel at the doctoral level who could serve as major advisors. The region had simply gone to a higher level in its attempt to offer educational opportunities to its residents. In addition, the region had developed opportunities for doctoral-level personnel for research and similar positions.

The research activities of CATIE had a component that provided the opportunities for doctoral-level research to ensure a high quality research experience for its doctoral students.

The quality of CATIE's professional staff was excellent with many doctoral-level faculty graduating from highly recognized universities in Europe and the North America. The international mix of its faculty with many Europeans, North Americans and Latin Americans provided a rich mix of experiences and cultures.

This author was invited in 1993 as a consultant to examine the opportunities for a doctoral education in CATIE. After much examination of the circumstances and drawing upon over two decades of experience in graduate education in universities in the United States, it was recommended that the institution could offer a high quality doctoral education IF it cooperated with well-known European and/or North American universities thereby drawing upon the resources of the institution and the cooperating institutions.

This effort resulted in development of a proposal, in 1995, for the CATIE's Board of Directors to begin offering a doctoral education in cooperation with a number of European and North American universities. Following this approval, the first doctoral students were admitted in 1996. This programme now has graduated 3 graduates and 12 students in various stages of completing their doctoral degree requirements. Tables 3 and 4 provide some information on these alumni and the existing doctoral students.

In cooperating universities, students take a number of courses in accordance with a study plan and jointly developed by CATIE and cooperating university faculties followed by a minimum of two years of research at CATIE. However, CATIE has the responsibility in maintaining programme requirements (see the Doctoral Programme Guide in www.catie.ac.cr) and solely confers the doctoral degree. Programme requirements are similar to well recognized international institutions.

Now, our institution has succeeded in developing truly joint doctoral programmes; one in the United States with the University of Idaho and the other in the United Kingdom with the University of Wales at Bangor, as noted earlier. In these programmes applicants are admitted jointly and supervised jointly during the entire programme followed by conferring a doctoral certificate bearing the names and signatures of CATIE and the partner institution. Requirements are virtually the same as those of North American and European partner institutions. Under this programme, the student spends about a year at the European or North American university taking courses and developing a research plan followed by a minimum of two years of research in CATIE or its member countries. For more information on the University of Idaho-CATIE doctoral programme see ( www.uidaho.edu/catie).

The language of the doctoral programme is English while Spanish is the language of the master's programme.

Table 3: List of current doctoral students

Table 4: List of doctoral alumni

The Governing Structure of the Graduate Education

Graduate Education at our institution is administered by a Graduate School headed by the Dean of the Graduate School. The Dean is responsible for implementing all rules and regulations that are designed to insure an efficient, high quality and relevant education to students entering its programmes. He is assisted by a Graduate Council composed of representatives in all areas of professional activities in CATIE. In addition, the Council also has representatives elected by the master and doctoral students who have nearly the same rights and privileges as any other member of the Council. All curricular matters and policy decisions are debated by the Council before they are voted on. Such curricular and policy recommendations are then sent to the Dean of the Graduate School for his/her consideration before it is forwarded to the Director General of CATIE for his approval. The Director General, depending on the issue being considered, may also seek the approval of the Board of Directors.

The Graduate Council has two standing Committees: The Master's Committee and the Doctoral Committee. These committees consider and debate all relevant issues including curricular matters. Curricular matters are considered taking into account the relevancy of the changes to the region and the profession at large. Students are also represented on this committee. Recommendations of these Standing Committees are presented to the Graduate Council for further debate.

This process insures that curricular changes and policy decisions are relevant, timely and feasible before they are approved for implementation.

In addition to the Standing Committees, the Graduate Council, from time to time, commissions other ad hoc committees to address some specific issues of interest to the Council. For example, the Council currently has commissioned ad hoc committee to address strategic issues relating to Graduate Education at CATIE.

Strategic Planning

CATIE, as an institution, has an office of Strategic Planning that continually looks at its programmes and ensures their relevancy to CATIE's mission. In cooperation with this office, the Graduate Council at CATIE has commissioned the ad hoc Committee on Strategic Planning, Chaired by Dr. Bommat Ramakrishna. The aim of this committee is to examine the existing graduate education offerings and propose changes that are relevant and timely to the institutional mandate and needs of the our member nations.

The objective of this planning process is to provide the Graduate School at CATIE with a strategic plan that will provide landmarks for the beginnings of the 21^st century and an operational plan for the 2002-2006 period. In this process, the Strategic Planning Committee currently is examining external reports, interviewing knowledgeable people, detecting internal functioning needs and reviewing all prior evaluation reports.

This planning process envisions five phases as follows:

1. Internal and external critical thinking.
3. Building internal and external consensus
3. Preparation of the Strategic Plan including any curricular changes.
5. Implementation
6. Monitoring of the Strategic Plan: 2002-2006

Such issues as (a) programme development, (b) functional structure, (c) resource allocation, (d) support services, (e) strategic alliances and (f) funding are issues that are being examined at the present time. There are key questions that are being examined such as what are we trying to achieve what should we preserve, what should we avoid, and what should we eliminate.

Table 5 briefly depicts this process of strategic planning that CATIE is currently undertaking.

Table 5. Proposed Phases and implications for Strategic Planning 2001-2005 and Implementation of Postgraduate Programme.

Concluding Remarks:

The process of curricular change at CATIE and indeed all changes relating to graduate education is one that the institution views actively and frequently. With its membership of eleven countries and active involvement of its member nations, continual feedback is provided to CATIE by its offices in these countries as well as alumni and other governmental, NGOs and private sources and external consultants.

For its master's programme, the institution continually monitors trends for demand for its services and examines the relevance of its programme offerings. As demand for a particular programme increases or wanes, CATIE responds to these changes by adding or deleting courses or concentration areas. For example, at this time, we note that the demand for watershed protection in the region is increasing. In addition, economic and policy issues relating to environmental protection is witnessing increased interest.

In addition, CATIE attempts not to duplicate programme offerings of the institutions located in its member nations. For example, livestock production and many aspects of tropical agriculture are being phased out at CATIE not so much that the demand for these services are declining but because the institutions in its member nations are now capable of offering master's degree education to their citizens in these topics.

The initiation of CATIE's doctoral programme is predicated on the need for advanced training to fill higher positions in universities, governments, research institutions and the like. Many regional institutions are not currently able to provide these opportunities to the citizens of the region where CATIE operates.

Continuous monitoring of the need for its educational services and responding to those needs in a systemic manner is what CATIE attempts to do. This requires continuous vigilance and regular assessment. Without these, any educational programme will, over time, become irrelevant.