Duchy College Rural Business School

The Duchy College Rural Business School[1] was founded in 2006. It is part of the Cornwall College Group[2] and its main purpose is to provide a range of services that meet the needs of rural communities, including training opportunities, business support and an ongoing research programme. Richard Soffe[3][4][5] is Director of the Rural Business School.

The Rural Business School works throughout the agricultural industry with a diverse range of people, groups and organisations. It prioritises sustainable agriculture and resource management with the aim of increasing knowledge, productivity and efficiency in agriculture and forestry. It has a team of training co-ordinators and research staff who apply their expertise to a number of rural development projects and initiatives. It also co-operates with other land based colleges and training providers in order to help optimise training opportunities in the region.

Goals

The Rural Business School is dedicated to furthering the development of opportunities for education, specialised training and knowledge exchange in order to accommodate constantly changing requirements in the land based sector. The sites at Stoke Climsland and Rosewarne offer teaching, training and conference facilities.

The Rural Business School’s goal is to provide a service to the local and regional communities through training, support and research.

Facilities

The Rural Business School is located on two sites: Stoke Climsland in the east of the county of Cornwall and also at Rosewarne in the west. It has a research outpost at Exeter University[6] in Devon and an office in the National Farmers Union[7] building in Exeter.

Rural Business Research

Rural Business Research[8] (RBR) is a team of British researchers working in the areas of farming, the environment and rural business. It is a consortium of academic units delivering projects for government, levy-funded research bodies, research councils, and commercial clients. It runs the Farm Business Survey,[9] which it carries out for Defra.[10]

Postgraduate Study

Postgraduate Study[11] is offered through the Rural Business School at Duchy College. Subject matter is based within land-based and rural industry sectors and is offered in a versatile format to accommodate the requirements of students.

Rural Development Programme for England projects

The Rural Business School runs a number of RDPE[12] funded projects. These include:

The Skills Programme

The Skills Programme[13] offers support funding for training. Training on the Skills Programme is delivered by a partnership led by the Rural Business School. The other partners are the Royal Agricultural University[14] and Lantra.[15]

Healthy Livestock

The Healthy Livestock Project[16] focuses on controlling the incidence of various conditions in livestock.

The Southwest Layers and Game Bird Initiative

The Southwest Layers and Game Bird Initiative[17] offers funding for training events, conferences and activities designed to improve flock health. It is driven by the Rural Business School who are running a three-year project funded through the Southwest Healthy Livestock Initiative (SWHLI).[18] This project has been formulated with the West Country Layers Association.[19]

SWHLI Knowledge Exchange Project

The Rural Business School delivers the SWHLI Knowledge Exchange project in partnership with The University of Bristol Veterinary School.[19] This initiative recognises the economic and cultural significance of livestock rearing to the region. The project provides knowledge support to SWHLI sector projects at a regional level and communicates the resulting information on the health and welfare of the region’s livestock population to the wider farming community.

South West Agricultural Resource Management

The main aim of South West Agricultural Resource Management[20] (SWARM) is to share information on resource management within the farming community in the South West Region of England. SWARM works with funding agencies, farming groups and other stakeholders to ensure up to date knowledge on all aspects of farm resource management is available to the local farming community.

The Challenge of Rural Leadership Course

The Challenge of Rural Leadership Course[21] is held at Dartington Hall[22] in Devon each year. The course programmes examine the challenges faced by rural industries. The course will offer opportunities for attendees to develop a better awareness of the strategic issues likely to affect individual businesses. It will help develop motivator and communication skills. It will help to provide the means to increase the influence of the rural community nationally and internationally and help gain a greater insight into the political, financial and environmental challenges affecting the future development of rural industries.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Rural Business School : Home". www2.cornwall.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  2. ↑ "Cornwall College | Making learning work". cornwall.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  3. ↑ "Rural Business School : Detail". www2.cornwall.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  4. ↑ "Richard Soffe". plymouth.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  5. ↑ "Richard Soffe - Politics - University of Exeter". socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  6. ↑ "Farm Business Survey Unit - Politics - University of Exeter". socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  7. ↑ "http://www.nfuonline.com/assets/3953". nfuonline.com. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  8. ↑ "RBR: Excellence in land based business research across England". fbspartnership.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  9. ↑ "RBR: Excellence in land based business research across England". fbspartnership.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  10. ↑ "Defra - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs". defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  11. ↑ "Rural Business School : Rural Business School". www2.cornwall.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  12. ↑ "Rural Development Programme for England". rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  13. ↑ "The National RDPE Skills Framework". rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  14. ↑ "RAU - Royal Agricultural University". rau.ac.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  15. ↑ "Lantra - Lantra – Agricultural Jobs | Land-based | Raising Skills | Backing Business". lantra.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  16. ↑ "Healthy Livestock". healthylivestock.org. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  17. ↑ "South West Layers and Game Birds Initiative". poultryandgame.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  18. ↑ "South West Healthy Livestock Initiative Knowledge Exchange - Rural Business School". swhli.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "South West Layers and Game Birds Initiative". poultryandgame.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  20. ↑ jerzy.ogorek@duchy.ac.uk. "SWARM - South West Agricultural Resource Management". swarmhub.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  21. ↑ "Challenge Of Rural Leadership Course". farmerslivery.org.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-09.
  22. ↑ "Dartington Hall | Devon Social Enterprise Venue - Hotel Style Bedrooms, Weddings, Conference Centre and Restaurant". dartington.org. Retrieved 2014-02-09.

External links