Royal Agricultural College

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The Royal Agricultural College is a university college based at Cirencester in the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, in England.

Its motto is Avorum Cultus Pecorumque, a quote from Virgil’s Georgics meaning "Caring for the fields and the beasts".

This agricultural college was the first established in the English-speaking world (1844)[1]. One of the leaders in the early days was Earl Bathurst, of neighbouring Cirencester House. A Royal Charter was granted to the College in 1845, and the Sovereign has been patron ever since. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has been President since 1984.

Courses are provided in agricultural sciences, business studies, critical management education, equine studies, rural land management, property management [UK and international], and international rural sustainability.

Graduates progress to careers in agriculture, land use and estate management, farming and farm consultancy, organic agriculture, management and business, school teaching, and teaching in further and higher education (internationally). Recent graduates of the School of Agriculture, MSc International Rural Development course have progressed to careers in international consultancy, local government, sustainable development projects, PhD research and many others. There is an expanding network of graduates in communication around the world. This course has recently launched an African Land and Food scholarship programme to fund people wishing to study agricultural development topics and return to Africa to share their new found knowledge and skills with the local community. Recent graduates of the School of Business are developing careers in academic research and consultancy; for example, Dr Allam Ahmed, MSc in Agribusiness, who is a researcher and academic at Sussex University [2] Nceku Nyathi, BSc in Business Management RAC(1999), MA Organizational Analysis, Warwick University 2002 and Teaching Assistant and Doctoral candidate at the Management Centre, Leicester University [3]; and, Dr Maxwell Mutema, MSc In Agribusiness RAC, and PhD Reading University, 2005.

The Royal Agricultural College continues to enact its educational and research commitment in keeping with its motto, Caring for the fields and beasts, while developing, simultaneously, critical human and social dimensions in pedagogic practices, in curriculum development, and in research and consultancy [see College web page and Modules, and Degree programmes; see also Professor John Alliston's Leadership initiative by following the link to the College web page].

The College made a vital and radical decision to accept public funding [HEFCE [4]]in 2001/02 in order to enter the mainstream of British higher education. This strategic choice indicated a 'watershed' moment in the history of the College. Marking a departure from its previous 'private college' status this was a landmark strategic decision for an agricultural college with the traditions of the Royal. While the change in status was initially negotiated by Professor Barry Dent as Principal, the leadership task of embedding this strategic transformation is the responsibility of the current Principal, Professor Chris Gaskell. The College is now a participating and collaborating member of the public sector of higher education in the UK. This change has ushered in an era of transformation in the College bringing new opportunities and challenging imperatives. For example, the College is now required to address new and complex social imperatives such as the Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000)[5] the provisions of which legislation apply to all public sector employers and institutions in the UK.

In responding to the challenge of joining the public sector community of higher education the College had to focus effectively on all facets of equality and diversity [6]. This development is monitored and supported, for example, by the College Equality and Diversity Committee, which has a formal advisory role within the College.

The College offers a diverse teaching and learning strategy. New pedagogic practices are encouraged and supported within the Schools. The College has decided to focus on enhancing the quality of the student learning experience through funding the professional training of academic staff. The College is currently collaborating with the University of Gloucestershire [7] in the provision of professional training for faculty staff through the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) programme.

The College's embrace of a critical dimension to human and social dynamics in its teaching and research is now explicitly reflected in its curriculum and pedagogic practices. This inclusional focus is evidenced by those faculty who are now registerd for PhD research in areas that were not previously embraced at the College such as mareketing and consumer behaviour, organization studies and change, educational research and postcolonial theory.

The College is developing a personal and public research and consultancy profile that includes critical human and social concerns in multidisciplinary ways. Areas of faculty and student research activity include ecology and sustainability [[8]]; critical organization studies and change [[9]]; critical management studies, critical theory and postcolonial theory [[10]]; leadership in agriculture [[11]]; and innovative first-person studies by students that shed new light on what constutes knowledge of farming families and equine practice. The College's emergent research and teaching interests in critical social and human dynamics reflects a conscious move by faculty staff to embrace 'people and social dynamics' within the College's teaching, learning and research approach in a way that augments and extends its ancient motto - "Caring for the fields and the beasts".

The School of Business within the College has been innovative in creating collaborative relationships with international universities for the provision of international management and business programmes (MBA's). Currently, the School of Business is collaborating with Arizona State University, Texas A&M, and Utah State University in the United States, and with Larenstein in the Netherlands. Faculty of the School hold membership of the Association of Business Schools in the UK, and are members and fellow of the Chartered Institutes of Marketing, and Personnel and Development. While the School is also developing research and teaching interests in Critical Management Studies [[12]]

Since becoming a publicly funded College faculty are demonstrating their commitment to professional and organizational development by registering for higher degrees, such as PhD's. Currently there are four School of Business faculty members registered for PhD's. Two faculty of the School of Agriculture are completing their PhD's. This is a period of personal commitment to professional and academic improvement in the Royal Agricultural College as faculty translate their commitment to academic professionalism and to realizing the university in an age of "supercomplexity" through commitment to their own doctoral research (Ronald Barnett, 1999, Realizing the University in an Age of Supercomplexity. Buckingham: SHRE and OU) [13]

The College offers a range of awards - Diploma, one year Foundation Degree, three years Undergraduate Degree (BSc), one year full time (flexible part-time) postgraduate (MSc, MBA, MA, MPhil and PhD), and short courses. To see further information on the programmes offered by the College, and its partners in the Netherlands and the USA, please click on the College web page link below.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] External links