23 pages, Increasing doctoral degree holders in Sub-Saharan Africa may significantly impact the quality and quantity of undergraduate and graduate programs. Research capacity is crucial to successfully completing a thesis or dissertation and obtaining a graduate degree. Unfortunately, in Sub-Saharan Africa, many students abandon or delay their degrees at this stage due to limited research and writing skills. This study aimed to identify the most critical thesis and dissertation (TD) research needs of masters and PhD students from Sub-Saharan Africa. Thirty-eight skills were identified from the literature and presented to agricultural education and extension/leadership students. Borich (1980) and Witkin (1984) needs assessment models were used to ascertain the perceived importance and extent of students' knowledge of TD topic areas. The top identified needs were extracting a manuscript from a thesis, writing a journal article, choosing inferential statistics, deciding the descriptive statics, and what to review in the literature. A total of 15 items were identified as critical needs using the Witkin model. The findings identified challenges and opportunities for improving Sub-Saharan African graduate students' research knowledge and TD performance, implying that combining the two models to identify training needs may produce more comprehensive results than using only one methodology.
African Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank, Economic Development Institute (EDI), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Management Systems International (MSI)
Format:
Manual
Publication Date:
1985-07
Published:
Africa
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 132 Document Number: C19933
African Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank, Economic Development Institute (EDI), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Management Systems International (MSI)
Format:
Manual
Publication Date:
1985-07
Published:
Africa
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 132 Document Number: C19934
Brown, Brendan (author), Nuberg, Ian (author), Llewellyn, Rick (author), and School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide
CSIRO Agriculture
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2018
Published:
Elsevier
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 16 Document Number: D10460
10 pages., Via online journal., Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a knowledge-intensive set of practices which requires substantial access to functional agricultural extension services to enable utilisation. Despite this importance, the perspectives of those providing extension services to smallholder farmers have not been fully investigated. To address this, we qualitatively explore the perspectives of agricultural extension providers across six African countries to understand why uptake of CA has been limited, as well as the institutional changes that may be required to facilitate greater utilisation. Across the diversity of geographical, political and institutional contexts between countries, we find multiple commonalities in the constrained utilisation of CA by smallholder farmers, highlighting the difficulties non-mechanised subsistence farmers face in transitioning to market-oriented farming systems such as CA. The primary constraint relates to the economic viability of market-oriented farming where farmers remain in low input and low output systems with limited exit points. The assumed exit point used by CA programs appears to have led to a culture of financial expectancy and reflects a continuation of top-down extension approaches with inadequate modification of CA to the contextual realities of subsistence farmers. If African agricultural systems are to be sustainably intensified, we find a need for greater flexibility within extension systems in the pursuit of sustainable intensification. If extension systems are to persist with CA, it will need to be promoted through more transitional pathways that disaggregate the CA package, and with that there is a need for the provision of a mandate to, and necessary funding for, more participatory extension services.
Africa: Sasakawa Centre for Continuing Education in Agriculture, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 134 Document Number: C20531
Notes:
Burton Swancon Collection, 55-62 pages from "Professional development of mid-career, front-line agricultural extension staff in Sub-Saharan Africa" Proceedings from a workshop
Africa: Sasakawa Centre for Continuing Education in Agriculture, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 134 Document Number: C20532
Notes:
Burton Swanson Collection, 63-64 pages from "Professional development of mid-career, front-line agricultural extension staff in Sub-Saharan Africa" Proceedings from a workshop
Africa: Sasakawa Centre for Continuing Education in Agriculture, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 134 Document Number: C20528
Notes:
Burton Swancon Collection, 33-34 pages from "Professional development of mid-career, front-line agricultural extension staff in Sub-Saharan Africa" Proceedings from a workshop
