Gatton agribusiness course delivers jobs and real world experience
A benchmark agribusiness course at Gatton College boasts a 100 percent job rate for graduates and the chance to work with real commercial projects.
Twenty-five, third-year Bachelor of Agribusiness students recently returned from market research projects in China (markets for canola), Taiwan (Australian and New Zealand stone fruit), Pakistan (Australian cotton), India (Australian sheep and goat meat) and Malaysia (fresh food distribution centre possibility) as part of their final semester's work.
The research, report-writing and verbal presentation of their work is worth 50 percent of their final semester's marks with sponsoring agribusiness firms determining 40 percent of the grade. The brainchild of School of Natural and Rural Systems Management Associate Professors Ray Collins and Tony Dunne, the "Thinking of Asia" program has been operating for seven years with 150 students visiting 15 different Asian countries during that time for 30 clients.
Some clients such as the Grainco Australia, Peanut Company of Australia, Meat and Livestock Australia, Queensland Cotton and Queensland Sugar Corporation have accessed the course up to four times for market research with 20 percent of students gaining employment with sponsoring firms. Overall, the course boasts a 100 percent graduate employment rate, according to Professor Collins.
"The project is the capstone of the students' degree year with subjects from first year on interview techniques, ethics, cross-cultural relations all feeding into this final project," Professor Collins said.
"It's the only course of its kind in Australia and is often cited by North American universities as an example of a benchmark course in the area. It is as close to real-life commercial experience as you can get at a university and a great source of jobs. We have had 100 percent satisfaction rates from both clients and students since it started seven years ago."
Associate Professor Collins and Dunne won University of Queensland Excellence in Teaching Awards for the course in 1996.
Each year, groups of four or five students and a staff mentor work in teams for an Australian agribusiness firm wishing to break into or cement a place in an Asian market. The firms all deal with food or fibre products or services. Each pays $9000 towards travel and accommodation costs for the student group while each student contributes $800. The University pays for the staff mentor.
The recent trip had some hair-raising moments with the Pakistan group departing the country just two weeks before a military coup and the Taiwan group waking up one night to a swaying hotel. They were just 50 kilometres from the epicentre of a devastating earthquake but were unharmed and evacuated from the country within 24 hours.
For more information, contact Associate Professor Ray Collins (telephone 07 5460 1328) or Associate Professor Tony Dunne (telephone 07 5460 1332).
