1st announcement …

                         1st announcement

                          Call for papers




 9th European Conference on Higher Agricultural Education (ECHAE)

                      http://www.9echae.udl.cat/


                         Jointly organized by
 the Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA) and the
Agriculture and Forestry Engineering School of the University of Lleida


 Developing roadmaps for European Life Science degrees:
          Competences, Quality, Employability


                   Lleida, 2nd - 5th September 2008
        9th European Conference on Higher Agricultural Education

                       Lleida, 2nd - 5th September 2008

        Developing roadmaps for European Life Science degrees:
                 Competences, Quality, Employability



Current socioeconomic and demographic factors in the agricultural industry
(and the consequent decline in student enrolment for agricultural degree
programmes) have forced universities to refocus and extend their traditional
curricula to encompass the holistic development of the rural environment, the
need for bio-renewable resources and the full extent of the food chain including
human nutritional standards.

Furthermore, in these times of global change, student exchanges and
universities competing for students, governments and universities are now
placing more emphasis on the employability of their graduates and their
preparation for specific professional areas.

Agriculture and Life Science graduates are employed in a wide range of posts
which may, or may not, be related to the discipline they studied. Universities
offering higher level qualifications in Agriculture and Life Sciences must
therefore ask the following questions:

   · Do you know what your former students are now doing and where they
     are working?
   · Are your present students aware of the graduate employment
     opportunities open to them?
   · How soon do undergraduates decide what they want to do after
     graduating?
   · Are potential employers aware of the skills sets of graduates?
   · Do students receive help when making employment applications?
   · Do students receive help with exploiting what they learn at university and
     using it to make them more readily employable?
   · Does the current curriculum promote employability?
   · Are students exposed to professional work experience?
   · Is the contribution of extra-curricula activities to employability fully
     recognised?

This conference will examine the employment possibilities and perspectives for
our graduates and look at the skills sets needed. It will also analyse different
university systems and experiences and examine how they assess the
employability of their graduates and decide on the skills and competences that
potential employers are interested in. It will also consider professional
development to help teaching and research staff adapt to these changing
needs.
With all these questions to answer, this conference will mainly focus on the
following themes:

   · The job market: for life science graduates in the EU
     Improving the employability of graduates: case studies
   · Competences, what graduates should know and be able to do, and how
     to develop them to enhance employability
   · Quality issues: assessing learning outcomes
   · Meeting new demands for staff development

The conference will include plenary keynote papers, presentations of technical
papers, roundtable debates and workshops, in parallel sessions. There will also
be a conference-theme excursion. The official language at the conference will
be English and no simultaneous translation will be provided. All of the papers
accepted will be included in the conference proceedings.

    You are invited to submit an abstract on one of the conference themes.

          Deadline for the submission of the abstracts: 1 March 2008



On behalf of the ICA and the Agriculture and Forestry Engineering School of the
University of Lleida, we look forward to welcoming you to Lleida (Spain) in
September 2008.



Conference secretariat

Teresa López
ETSEA
Phone: + 34-973.70.25.14
Fax:
E-mail:relex@ugc-etsea.udl.cat.