An evaluation of curricular requirements for future graduates of baccaluareate agricultural mechanization programs as perceived by program coordinators and prospective employers

Abstract

There were two purposes for conducting this study. The first was to determine what modifications, if any, should be made to the current baccalaureate curricula in agricultural mechanization to prepare future graduates for employment in agricultural industry. The second was to assess the consistency of responses on curricular requirements between the coordinators of agricultural mechanization programs and employers of the programs' graduates. Coordinators of 29 recognized programs of agricultural mechanization made recommendations for modifying existing curricula to prepare future graduates for employment in agricultural industry. Program coordinators identified 97 employers of their graduates who also made suggestions for changing the curricula. Responses from the two groups were analyzed and formed the basis for recommendations to change the curricula of agricultural mechanization programs. Coordinators and employers recommended that greater emphasis should be placed on subject matter areas related to business science, communications, and agricultural mechanization. The courses identified as needing an increased number of required hours were computer operation/application, management/supervision, speech communication, electronic measurement techniques in agriculture, technical writing, computer programming, marketing/salesmanship, business finance, agricultural economics, accounting, and English composition and rhetoric. The courses receiving the strongest recommendation for required hours to be decreased were range science, surveying equipment and application, physical education, forestry, horticulture, meteorology, philosophy, zoology, physiology, history, and literature. Coordinator recommendations and employer recommendations were generally in agreement. Typically, employers recommended a greater increase in required hours than did coordinators.