The UK’s higher education sector is not delivering graduates with the right skillset to support food production in a changing climate, according to an analysis of courses supported by SCI’s Horticulture group and published in SCI’s journal JSFA Reports.
The economic importance of plants, botany and horticulture to the UK is significant, but there has been little detailed work looking at what is being taught at degree level.
‘Any prospective student (or employer) will find it virtually impossible to determine which degree will deliver the skills they need as there is no plant curriculum offered across the board, and specific information is hidden within module descriptors on websites. If the skills outlined as being essential for the economy and society are truly important, then a new approach is required,’ is the conclusion of the research paper: Analysis of plant science higher education reveals mixed provision which falls short of delivering national priorities (DOI: 10.1002/jsf2.70001).
‘To address this lack of knowledge, here we investigate the curricula of the full range of relevant UK HE undergraduate courses to determine the breadth of plant-related teaching and how they are responding to the skills shortages,’ the paper said.
The researchers analysed the content of degree programmes that are advertised as teaching plant biology, to determine if the UK higher education sector is delivering the graduates required to meet the often-reported skills gaps. The research found a highly mixed picture of delivery from one- to four-year courses, with modules ranging from 10 to 40 credits, and higher education institutions providing variable information on their websites.
The research said that, overall, the UK’s higher education sector is not delivering the graduates with skillset which has been outlined in numerous reports as required to enable food production in a changing climate.
‘In a UK context, there are serious concerns that a plant aware workforce does not exist. This is evidenced by reports produced by government, learned societies and industry bodies, throughout the past decade, highlighting that skills shortages are arising across plant-related industry sectors including ornamental horticulture, horticultural (edible) crop production and plant science research,’ the paper noted.
The paper found a lack of any plant science curriculum common to institutions or courses, and while it did find ‘pockets of plant content delivery of strategic importance’ it said these occur across a variety of courses of varied length and type offered by a range of institutions – and are consequently difficult for any prospective student or employer to identify. The only common curricula identified was limited to the 18 courses grouped as Plant Science which are delivered by just nine institutions.
Alec Forsyth, a plant scientist and chair of SCI Horticulture Group, said the analysis came about because there was no reliable data on what plant science, botany and horticulture was actually being taught, despite plenty of speculation and anecdotes on what was missing.
‘So we set out to undertake an analysis of the sector to determine exactly what was being taught,’ he said.
‘We found that most degrees taught relatively little plant biology – this did not surprise us, though how little was a surprise. We also found that there was no agreed syllabus or curriculum – this was a surprise as we thought fundamental aspects of plant biology (eg physiology) would be common across degrees.’
Forsyth said this is worrying as it means many graduates lack basic knowledge.
‘The impact is clear: we will need more people who have trained overseas to be our agronomists, plant breeders and innovators. Food production is an essential part of national security and as we aim to increase defence spending we should also be investing in ensuring we have a sustainable food production sector- for this we will need knowledgeable skilled individuals able to innovate,’ he said, noting that the lack of high quality specialist courses on offer is the issue. ‘Potential students cannot chose a degree option that is not offered,’ he said.
Following this research, SCI’s horticulture group is now running a consultation to understand what content should be part of any educational programme.
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