Programme Specifications

9 month work experience

Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Food and Consumer Sciences

August 2024

Graduates with agricultural degrees will have a thorough understanding of crop and animal production methods and of the underpinning scientific, economic and business principles. In particular they will be able to:

Identify technological and economic problems encountered in current production systems;

Evaluate new techniques and, where appropriate, apply them to commercial practice;

Identify, evaluate and apply relevant scientific principles to production systems;

Know how to organise and manage a business for profit;

Identify and evaluate public concerns over food production practices and

Evaluate the wider consequences of agricultural activities.

The Foundation Degree will have built into its modular structure a number of options that allow for Welsh Medium teaching that meets the need of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.

This Foundation degree has an extended work experience placement that allows students to experience the full seasonal nature of agricultural productivity and develop employability skills.

Subject specific skills

Apply the skills needed for academic study and enquiry.

Evaluate research and a variety of types of information and evidence critically.

Critically analyse information from a number of sources in order to gain a coherent understanding of theory and practice, synthesizing and summarizing the outcomes.

Apply strategies for appropriate selection of relevant information from a wide source and large body of knowledge.

Apply knowledge and understanding to address familiar and novel problems.

Design an experiment, investigation, survey or other means to test a hypothesis or proposition.

Utilise problem-solving skills.

Generic and graduate skills

The following transferable skills will be developed and assessed as part of the course:

Problem solving

Research skills

Communication

Improving own learning and performance

Team work

Information technology

Application of number

Personal development and career planning

Overall aim of the scheme

To provide students with subject specific, vocational, practical, academic and transferable skills required for a career in Agriculture. To provide an appropriate foundation for progression to a related BSc scheme in Agriculture.

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the scientific factors influencing crop and livestock production

Understand how production systems can be improved by manipulation and management and recognise and address the ethical and environmental implications of production systems

Understand the policy and socioeconomic factors which form and influence systems

Describe and evaluate a wide range of economic and business management theory and techniques relevant to agriculture

Apply and evaluate a range of specific scientific and technological processes relevant to the on-farm physical and/or financial environment

Apply the principles of a safe working environment and underline importance of health and safety at work

Demonstrate a range of transferable skills including initiative, independence and commercial awareness

Learning and Teaching
Lectures; tutorials; 9 month industrial placement; field based excursions; problem-based learning scenarios and case studies; field based and laboratory practicals; role play; literature based research; computer-assisted learning; and either an investigation leading to a research proposal or advanced practical skills leading to certification by a relevant lead body.

Assessment Strategies and Methods
Written examinations and coursework to include: report writing, oral and poster presentations; the submission of a research proposal; assessment based on real life problems with employer involvement.

10.2.1: Intellectual Skills

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to:

Apply the skills needed to contextualise academic study and enquiry within a vocational career

Select and use appropriate and relevant information from a wide range of sources in order to gain an understanding of theory and practice.

Undertake investigative case studies to evaluate issues and changing situations.

Apply knowledge and understanding to address and solve problems.

Demonstrate experience of working in a professional environment.

Learning and Teaching
Lectures; tutorials; 9 month industrial placement; field based excursions; problem-based learning scenarios and case studies; field based and laboratory practicals; role play; literature based research; computer-assisted learning; and either an investigation leading to a research proposal or advanced practical skills leading to certification by a relevant lead body

Assessment Strategies and Methods
Written examinations and coursework to include: report writing, oral and poster presentations; the submission of a research proposal; assessment based on practical problems with employer involvement.

10.2.2: Professional practical skills (where applicable)

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to:

Design, apply and interpret the outcomes of a range of study techniques.

Plan, conduct, and report on investigations, including the use of secondary data.

Collect, record, summarise and interpret data from GIS, laboratory or field work/excursions using appropriate techniques.

Plan and manage practical work in the field with due regard to health and safety.

Apply appropriate agricultural solutions to a range of situations.

Applying Agriculture principles, methods, approaches, concepts, skills and/or theories in a professional context, as well as understanding the challenges of working in a professional environment

Learning and Teaching
Professional skills are acquired and developed during the mandatory work experience period. Additional skills are addressed in the Science and Technology in Agriculture module as well as during practical work, field visits, class activities and the optional Advanced Practical Skills module where standard industry certification body qualifications are undertaken. Students spend time on an extended work experience placement that allows for additional professional training and certification to take place.

Assessment Strategies and Methods
Coursework, the submission of reports, business management plans, feed analysis, crop management reports, practical precision farming exercises, and in media such as posters, leaflets and worldwide web sites. Students will be provided with real life scenarios that include crop plots where critical management decisions are taken as a pedagogic tool. Students are expected to make critical reference to the application of practical skills in their written examinations. The research proposal (optional) should develop skills in conceiving and planning laboratory/field investigations or case studies, in the collection and recording of library, laboratory or field data and how to summarise it using appropriate qualitative and/or quantitative techniques.

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to:

Communicate to a range of different audiences, including academics, practitioners, special interest groups and the wider public using a range of communication techniques.

Undertake practical work and show an awareness of the health and safety issues related to working in the agricultural industry.

Apply information technology, numeric techniques and analysis of data to a variety of tasks.

Analyse problems and develop appropriate solutions.

Improve their own performance and plan their personal development.

Professionalism and an understanding of commercial pressures

Learning and Teaching
Transferable/key skills are incorporated within modules and related to relevant assessments as appropriate. Students further learn and develop skills through tutorials / seminars; problem-based learning scenarios; practical workshops; self-directed learning, oral presentations, continuous assessment of practical skills and team work in the field, and work experience. Employability related skills are developed during the work placement period.

Assessment Strategies and Methods
Transferable/key skills are incorporated within modules and related to relevant assessments as appropriate. Students further learn and develop skills through tutorials / seminars; problem-based learning scenarios; practical workshops; self-directed learning, oral presentations, continuous assessment of practical skills and team work in the field, and work experience.