SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Marshal Papworth sustainable agriculture skills course returns - with new online element

Posted 10 February 2022

A course which has seen scholars from developing countries study at SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and develop sustainable agriculture skills has returned after a two-year hiatus – with a new online element.

The Marshal Papworth Fund works with Harper Adams and charity partners to provide sustainable agriculture courses and has welcomed 26 students from seven developing countries - Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia - to an online short course over recent weeks. The course is designed to complement and enrich the following in-person course at Harper Adams, with successful scholars on the online course progressing to the 10-week residential course at the University later this year.  

This will be the first time the course has run after a two year pause as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and the new online course has been designed to bolster the learning it provides even further.

Marshal Papworth Fund chairman, Tom Arthey, said: “We know from speaking to our alumni of over 200 students that the benefits of delivering our sustainable agriculture course in person in the UK, with all the access to Harper Adams’ amazing teaching staff and resources, farm and field visits that we organise and shared experiences from across different countries, are all critical to its success and the impact that our alumni go on to have when they return home.

 “However, we wanted to offer an online element this year to allow those students, who have all deferred their places from 2021, to really hit the ground running with many of the fundamental elements of the course already under their belts.”

The six week long online course runs as a precursor to the full 10-week UK residential course delivered at SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. Students must demonstrate their engagement and achievement on the online cou