UQ looks to future of agriculture

The University of Queensland will continue to offer Australia’s premier agriculture courses at its Gatton and St Lucia campuses.

Executive Dean of the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science Faculty Professor Roger Swift said the University had recently proposed to merge two schools to form a new School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences.

“The quality of our internationally-recognised programs will not be affected in the new School, which will continue to respond to student and industry needs,” he said.

Professor Swift said the University would reluctantly implement adjustments in staff numbers, because of changed student demand following Australia’s drought conditions.

This had mainly affected crop production and horticulture. However, other areas of strength such as animal production, environment and natural resource management have been largely unaffected.

However, the University was working closely with industry to improve public understanding of the sector’s value and of the many job opportunities awaiting graduates. He said the new School would feature research concentrations in soil science, crop science and food science.

“These changes are designed to secure the future of agricultural education at the University particularly in the crop science area, and to ensure a continuing stream of high quality graduates for industry,” he said.

“The interesting thing is that job opportunities exceed the number of graduates we can produce.”

“We’ve demonstrated our confidence in the future of these sectors by investing more than $30 million in enhancing these resources,” he said.

“This includes state-of-the-art laboratories, an equine breeding complex, wind tunnel for spray applications, post-harvest facilities, a modern food-processing plant, as well as a nursery, greenhouses and tissue-culture facilities.”

These facilities are being further bolstered with the planned multi-million dollar relocation of the School of Veterinary Science to Gatton campus and the establishment of an $28.5 million Centre for Advanced Animal Science at UQ Gatton in partnership with Queensland’s Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries.

A multi-million dollar collaborative learning centre, which allows teaching collaboration across campuses, and other centres nationally and internationally, is close to completion. This centre will also be available for use by the local community.

Media: Further information, Jan King 0413 601 248