Grassroots Vol 21 No 3 | Page 38

CONGRESS

agricultural and conservation scenarios ?
Prof Kevin Kirkman
With the proliferation of new research techniques and instrumentation , remote sensing , sophisticated statistical models and information overload , there is a very real danger of losing touch with the ecosystem in which we work and losing the ability to apply science in practice . Looking at tertiary education in southern Africa and indeed further afield , there is a tendency to promote university education over more technically , practically based education . So , graduates tend to be more theory-based than field-skills orientated . Within universities , there is an additional move towards reducing field and practical based training . Extended field trips are rare because of costs . Weekend field trips disappear because of costs and conflicting time demands . Practical training is reduced to a few afternoons in a semester . The academic system at universities ensures that academic staff are rewarded for publishing in reputable ( theoretical ) journals and are not rewarded commensurably for imparting practical field skills to students and training students in solving problems at the landscape level . The proliferation of easily accessible information and web-based applications requires different and new skills and creates a dilemma for educationists . For example , do students still need to learn the detailed theory and practice
37 Grassroots Vol 21 No 3 November 2021