European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations]
Background The NextFood Project (www.nextfood-project.eu) started work in 2018 to identify ‘Categories of Skills’ that students should be equipped with to address the upcoming global challenges within agrifood and forestry disciplines. The skill groups are Innovative Mindset, Life-Long Learning, Net...
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F1000 Research Ltd
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-93/v3 |
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| author | Håkan Jönsson Stephen Burleigh |
| author_facet | Håkan Jönsson Stephen Burleigh |
| author_sort | Håkan Jönsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background The NextFood Project (www.nextfood-project.eu) started work in 2018 to identify ‘Categories of Skills’ that students should be equipped with to address the upcoming global challenges within agrifood and forestry disciplines. The skill groups are Innovative Mindset, Life-Long Learning, Network-Building, Strategic Management, Sustainability, Systems Perspective, Technological Knowledge and Versatility. This study is based on the initial skills and competencies mapping, but takes a different methodological approach. Instead of investigating what the research literature and professionals think are important skills for the future, this study asks how existing education programmes include or exclude these skills in the description of their programs. Methods Python-based web-scraping scripts were used to collect texts from a selection of European Masters program websites, which were then analysed using statistical tools including Partial Least Squares regression and network analysis. A total of 14 countries, 27 universities, 1303 European Masters programs, 3305 web-pages and almost two million words were studied using this approach. Results While agrifood and forestry Masters programs were aligned with the NextFood Project ‘Categories of Skills’ equal to or more often than unrelated Masters programs, we found evidence for the relative underuse of words associated with networking skills, such as collaboration, communication and eamwork. Agriculture-related programs used these words the least among the agrifood Masters programs. In contrast, agrifood programs used words associated with sustainability and system thinking more than the non-agrifood Masters programs. Conclusions The informatics approach provides evidence that many European agrifood and forestry Masters programs are following the educational paths for meeting future challenges as outlined by the NextFood Project, with the possible exception of networking skills. This approach allows a complementary and time-efficient overview of the current state of education in the agrifood system in Europe. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9b1d38caca024e1ead36513ee9154690 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2732-5121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| series | Open Research Europe |
| spelling | doaj-art-9b1d38caca024e1ead36513ee91546902025-01-24T01:00:00ZengF1000 Research LtdOpen Research Europe2732-51212025-01-01420945European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations]Håkan Jönsson0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7621-8132Stephen Burleigh1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4261-6180Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Division of Food and Pharma, LTH, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Skåne County, SE-221 00, SwedenDepartment of Process and Life Science Engineering, Division of Food and Pharma, LTH, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Skåne County, SE-221 00, SwedenBackground The NextFood Project (www.nextfood-project.eu) started work in 2018 to identify ‘Categories of Skills’ that students should be equipped with to address the upcoming global challenges within agrifood and forestry disciplines. The skill groups are Innovative Mindset, Life-Long Learning, Network-Building, Strategic Management, Sustainability, Systems Perspective, Technological Knowledge and Versatility. This study is based on the initial skills and competencies mapping, but takes a different methodological approach. Instead of investigating what the research literature and professionals think are important skills for the future, this study asks how existing education programmes include or exclude these skills in the description of their programs. Methods Python-based web-scraping scripts were used to collect texts from a selection of European Masters program websites, which were then analysed using statistical tools including Partial Least Squares regression and network analysis. A total of 14 countries, 27 universities, 1303 European Masters programs, 3305 web-pages and almost two million words were studied using this approach. Results While agrifood and forestry Masters programs were aligned with the NextFood Project ‘Categories of Skills’ equal to or more often than unrelated Masters programs, we found evidence for the relative underuse of words associated with networking skills, such as collaboration, communication and eamwork. Agriculture-related programs used these words the least among the agrifood Masters programs. In contrast, agrifood programs used words associated with sustainability and system thinking more than the non-agrifood Masters programs. Conclusions The informatics approach provides evidence that many European agrifood and forestry Masters programs are following the educational paths for meeting future challenges as outlined by the NextFood Project, with the possible exception of networking skills. This approach allows a complementary and time-efficient overview of the current state of education in the agrifood system in Europe.https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-93/v3agrifood forestry higher education skills inventory informatics web-scrapingeng |
| spellingShingle | Håkan Jönsson Stephen Burleigh European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations] Open Research Europe agrifood forestry higher education skills inventory informatics web-scraping eng |
| title | European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations] |
| title_full | European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations] |
| title_fullStr | European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations] |
| title_full_unstemmed | European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations] |
| title_short | European agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future - Gap analysis from an informatics approach [version 3; peer review: 1 approved, 6 approved with reservations] |
| title_sort | european agrifood and forestry education for a sustainable future gap analysis from an informatics approach version 3 peer review 1 approved 6 approved with reservations |
| topic | agrifood forestry higher education skills inventory informatics web-scraping eng |
| url | https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/4-93/v3 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hakanjonsson europeanagrifoodandforestryeducationforasustainablefuturegapanalysisfromaninformaticsapproachversion3peerreview1approved6approvedwithreservations AT stephenburleigh europeanagrifoodandforestryeducationforasustainablefuturegapanalysisfromaninformaticsapproachversion3peerreview1approved6approvedwithreservations |