Global group of agricultural universities join forces to research sustainable entrepreneurship education

A group of agricultural universities from across the globe, led by the UK’s Royal Agricultural University (RAU), is coming together to research sustainable entrepreneurship education worldwide.

Launching the research project today, Dr David Bozward, Head of Entrepreneurship at the RAU, said:

“The agriculture sector is one of the most important economic sectors in developing markets and agricultural entrepreneurship is an imperative for these markets in developing new sustainable business models to reduce food poverty, decrease the carbon footprint of agriculture, and ensure that the livelihoods of farmers around the world are sustainable. 

“It is therefore clear the future of agriculture is having entrepreneurial leaders who can manage the global challenges currently underway and this starts with educating agricultural students.”

The project will bring together a truly global group of agricultural universities to conduct research into the entrepreneurial attitudes, activity, and aspirations of their students. The universities involved – from China, Columbia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the UK – represent some of the most important emerging agriculture markets around the world.

The participating Universities are:

1. University for Development Studies, Ghana
2. University of Calabar, Nigeria
3. Cross River University of Technology, Nigeria
4. Indian Institute for Plantation Management, India
5. Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
6. La Salle University, Columbia
7. Henan Agricultural University, China
8. Northwest A&F University, China
9. Shandong Agricultural University, China
10. Qingdao Agricultural University, China
11. Royal Agricultural University, UK

Dr Bozward added: “The research will be used in a number of ways but initially it will help develop new teaching methods and learning outcomes in a wide range of agricultural courses across the globe, supporting the development of agricultural entrepreneurship on a global scale.

“It will also be used at individual student level to understand how different courses need to support students in distinctive ways to ensure agricultural graduates can take on the challenges and opportunities presented to them.

“In a small way we have been working on researching this for a number of years and wanted to expand this globally so that we can work with agricultural educators around the world and provide them with the opportunity to design truly impactful entrepreneurial courses.”

Following the launch of the project, partners will spend the next year collecting data which will then be analysed and this work will form the basis of a series of publications in 2023.