UQ answers call for skilled graduates in agriculture industry

The University of Queensland is addressing Queensland’s shortage of skilled agriculture graduates ready to work in the field, with a new vocational program announced today.

The Honourable Dr John McVeigh MP Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announced the two-year Queensland Diploma in Agricultural Technologies, offered by UQ’s Gatton Vocational Education Centre on Thursday, 20 February.

UQ Acting Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Rix said the diploma was designed to meet a current shortage of applied skills in the sector, and was in immediate response to calls from state government and industry groups to fill that gap.

“There is a pressing need to provide efficient, high-level technical training to support future rural industries across Queensland,” Professor Rix said.  

“The Queensland Diploma in Agricultural Technologies has been designed to meet the specific needs of industry and employers who are seeking highly skilled graduates, meaning they emerge with the skill-sets that prepare them to meet the future challenges of agricultural production on a global scale.”

“The world will be feeding nine billion people by the year 2050, so agriculture is a vital and growing sector, and it is therefore important as an education provider that we are preparing our graduates to meet that future.” 

“Graduates of the Queensland Diploma in Agricultural Technologies will be able to pursue careers in agricultural and production management, rural merchandising and advising, and research and development in the agricultural industry,” he said.

The diploma will offer four areas of specialisation: production horticulture, broadacre cropping, animal production, and plant protection. 

Students will have access to the UQ Gatton farm units which include a commercial dairy, piggery, poultry unit, sheep and goat herd, horticultural fields, nursery, tissue culture and post-harvest facilities, research laboratories and greenhouses, and an extensive range of modern plants and machinery.

The first cohort will start on 3 March, 2014. For more information and to enrol in the Queensland Diploma in Agricultural Technologies visit http://www.uq.edu.au/gatton/gatton-campus-dat or phone (07) 5460 1353.

Media: Erin Pearl, UQ Gatton Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator, (07) 5460 1229, 0409265587, e.pearl@uq.edu.au